OOM-340 stood behind the makeshift wooden barricades in the Ever-free Forest that he had been set up with. His squad consisted of 15 B1s, 8 B2s, and 1 Dwarf Spider Droid. A large lion-like beast with a scorpion tail had attempted to attack them earlier, but it was quickly blasted down by the Dwarf Spider Droid.
He peered out into the forest with his electro binoculars, but they were almost worthless due to the tree cover. He passed them to a nearby B1.
"Can you see anything?" He asked.
"Nothing yet sir. Wait… no. Oh wait yeah! I think I see things moving in the distance!"
"What do you mean?"
"I see dark shapes moving!" The Droid said vaguely
"Give me those!" he demanded, reaching for the viewfinders
"But you just gave them to me!" The Droid replied
"Quiet let me see!" OOM-340 ordered, placing the electro binoculars up to his photoreceptors.
The droid was right, he could see 4 legged shapes with heads too large for their bodies. As they came closer, he could finally see them clearly… ponies in full armor.
"Open fire!" He called
Immediately the cry of Blaster fire filled the air as red lasers and magic blasts flew back and forth between the sides…
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Shining Armor trotted through the Ever-free Forest, with his fellow ponies behind him. It grew darker the farther they journeyed, but they could see once their eyes adjusted.
Shining raised his hoof, signaling everyone to stop. Up ahead there was a large squad of Battle Droids, all standing with their blasters ready, with a larger Droid behind them. It had 5 red glowing eyes, two stalk-like eyes that attacked to the body like antennae, and 3 on the front of its red body, with 2 tubes emerging from the bottom of the body, and it stood on 6 large red legs low on the ground, making it vaguely shaped like a crab.
"What the hay is that thing sir?" A nearby Guard whispered
"Quiet" he responded "we don't want to be spotted. Split up, we'll flank them from both sides.
The squads split and advanced up the side tree lines.
Shining gave signals to fire, and the B1s standing out in the open were quickly cut down by magic.
"Advance!" Shining yelled, and his troops emerged from the brush on either side of the clearing. All the B1s had been taken down by this point, leaving the large crab-like Droid.
The droid, however, was intent on not going down without a fight. The droid let loose a stream of laser fire from its belly cannons, cutting down many Guards ponies, and grievously wounding others as it advanced towards Shining.
"Concentrate Magic on its cannons! Get behind it!" Shining ordered, and his ponies began to fire at its belly cannon while flanking it from all sides. The Crab Droid tightened its legs together with its body, as if attempting to hide its weaker underbelly, before it suddenly leaps forwards at shining and his ponies, crushing several beneath its metal feet. Shining was able to raise a shield around himself just in time to avoid being crushed. The machine stood on top of his shield attempting to smash away at his protective bubble with its front legs. Suddenly a Pegasus Guards pony flew up onto its back and smashed at its eyestalks, causing the droid to stumble backwards, rearing on its hind legs attempting to shake off the unwanted rider, to little avail. The Pegasus continued to smash away at its hull Armor, denting and causing several plates to fly off exposing the circuitry inside. Shining took the chance and fired a beam directly into the opening in its body, melting its mechanical inner workings. The droid stumbled and collapsed onto the ground letting out a final grumble of resistance before its eyes flickered out, and its hull began to smoke.
Shining let out a deep breath. Whatever that thing was, it was dead now. He glanced over at what was left of his platoon. He'd lost 13 ponies to this machine alone. He kicked at it angrily with his leg.
"Piece of scrap!" He shouted, "you cost me the lives of ponies I trusted, ponies who trusted me to lead them safely!"
Shining stood there for a moment longer before giving the order to form up and move again. The Princesses needed their distraction.
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The Princesses and the Elements were having considerably less trouble. They had only run into a small patrol
"So should we rush them?"
"No Twilight, they may be able to get a signal out of our presence then." Celestia responded.
"What do we do then?"
"We distract them and take them out all at once."
B1-68006 stood at his post with 2 of his buddies.
"This is boring, nothing's out there!" He groaned
"I know! I'd rather be in the front lines! That's at least exciting!" His friend said. Suddenly a small rock flew out of the woods and landed on the ground beside them, followed by another a few seconds later.
"Huh?" The one Droid said, moving to pick it up, only for it to be surrounded by a golden aura and roll back towards the forest.
"Come back!" They shouted, running after it.
B1-68006 stood at his post with his friend.
The first Droid had taken the bait. Immediately after stepping into the bush, it was tackled by Applejack and quickly dealt with.
Back in the clearing, another rock rolled out on the other side of the clearing, before being surrounded by a blue aura and rolling back into the forest.
"Hey…" said the other Droid wandering to go find it, and immediately after stepping to the clearing, was decapitated by a swift kick from Princess Luna.
B1-68006 stood alone at his post.
Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a pink pony with a messy mane and tail behind him with a massive smile on her face.
"Hi!" She said in an energetic voice
He stumbled backwards and out of the command center, falling in his back, His final thoughts were simply confusion before he was suddenly being crushed by the same comically large hammer Pinkie used to crush the Commando Droid, again pulling it from seemingly nowhere.
The ponies all came out from their hiding spaces and followed the empty path behind the former guard's post, a path that should logically lead to their base...
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TA-175 stood at his holo table, surveying the battle as it was playing out. He predicted the locations and paths of the Ponies armies, and had arranged his defenses accordingly, to near pinpoint accuracy. There were 3 main columns of ponies moving through the forest, and they were headed for the base. All 3 of the outer defenses had fallen, but they were of little importance. Their purpose was simply to alert him to enemy presence, which they did. Everything was playing into his mechanical palm except for the Dragons, as he was not sure where they were. None had been reported.
A loud roar was heard outside…
None had been reported until just then, as several alerts flashed on his monitors.
He tapped on a data pad, and the projection changed to that of the base. 7 large Dragons and the 13 medium sized Dragons had landed from the air, being led by a small blue dragon wearing Golden armor and had begun to wreak havoc on his inner defenses.
"Recalculating…" he said to himself, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he pressed several buttons on a terminal.
Outside, battalions of B1s and B2s opened fire on the giant beasts, to little effect. AATs fired their shots at the large Dragons, managing to kill 3 with their armor piercing shells and bunker buster shells. However, one of the Dragons scales were just too thick, and the shells simply bounced off the Dragon, who swept 2 AATs aside with a with simple whip of his tail and crushed another beneath his clawed foot. Dwarf Spider Droids emerged from their trenches and began firing on the Dragons, attempting to score lucky shots in their eyes, it was total chaos for both sides.
Ember smashed a B1 with a strike from her staff
"PUSH FORWARDS! REMEMBER THE DRAGON LANDS!" She shouted as the Dragons began to push onwards…
Far above the planet in orbit, the Carrier 'Enforcement's' hanger doors opened, and from the ceiling dropped 14 Vulture Droids who landed with loud metallic thuds on the floor, as they activated, their eye Lits glowing a bright red. Several larger Hyena Class Bombers awakened from their slumber next to them with a evil mechanical laugh, which their name came from. They all transformed into their flight modes and departed from the hanger, as huge swarm of death. Their orders were simple: Defend the Ever-free Forest Base from Dragons at all costs…
Things were going well for Ember's forces, as she had only lost 3 giants with 4 smaller warriors. Then came a loud sound from the sky above. Ember looked up to see a huge swarm of mechanical creatures speeding down towards her and her Dragons. She hardly had a moment to take in the sight and find cover before a vast number of lasers and bombs exploded on the ground around her, with the bombs taking out 3 other giant dragons and killing nearly all other smaller Dragon warriors.
The droid fighters pulled up from their dove bomb at the last moment before they hit the ground in maneuver that would be fatal to most pilots due to overwhelming G forces.
Her whole attack plan had gone to Tartarus!
"Find cover!" She yelled, smashing another droid with her staff "defend yourselves as long as you can!"
"Yes, my lord!" Shouted another dragon warrior, moments before he was blown apart by a bomb launched by a Hyena Bomber.
"Yes, my lord!" Shouted another dragon warrior, moments before he was blown apart by a bomb launched by a Hyena Bomber.
She didn't become Dragon Lord for this..
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Back at OOM-340s position, Magic and laser shots darted back and forth across the battlefield.
OOM-340 ducked behind a log with several of his other troops, as they would periodically stick their heads up to return fire.
There were a lot of ponies, but OOM-340 believed he had the upper hand. He and his forces were positioned on a higher ridge with tree cover around them. Now the area in front was littered with Guards pony corpses and destroyed Battle Droids alike.
Suddenly there was a loud boom, and a cannon ball smashed though the barricade next to him, taking the 2 Droids behind them with it.
"Oh no…" he said, peeking up to see the ponies had brought in cannons to breach their defenses.
"Hey, you," he said, pointing at the Dwarf Spider Droid
The Spider Droid squawked back and tilted its head almost like a giant robot puppy.
"Concentrate fire on the cannons!"
The Spider Droid squawked in reply and began to fire its cannon at the Equestrian Artillery, blowing them away.
"Good shot boy!" He praised
Suddenly a cannon ball flew directly into the Dwarf Spider Droids domed head, denting it and cracking one of its large red eyes before bouncing off. The droid's eyes flicked for a moment, and it collapsed on the ground, as if wanting to give out, before it stood up and released a rapid fire burst from its cannon on the attacking Pony forces, killing many of them and destroying their remaining artillery, as well as destroying many trees and plants in fiery explosions.
"Holy…" OOM-340 said, gazing through is electro binoculars once more at the destruction.
Suddenly 3 ponies popped up from behind cover and launched a spear at OOM-340 and the 2 remaining B1s next to him with their magic. The Dwarf Spider Droid swiveled its head and blasted the ponies into bits and pieces but it was too late. OOM-340 felt a sharp jab in his abdomen and lowered his electro binoculars.
A spear had impeded itself in his abdomen, deep enough that the head was no longer visible.
"Ugh…" he managed to utter before he fell over on his side as his leg connections gave out.
"Nooo…" groaned. "But I don't… I don't want to shut down…" he whimpered in his high-pitched voice as he felt the simulated, but still very real pain. He turned his head to his comrades. He'd been the lucky one of the 3. One had it embedded directly where his head connected, which severed his neck and head and the other had it producing from his back through his chest, a complete impalement.
He reached his hand up to his radio on his head as he dragged himself against a tree.
"This is OOM-340. Area is secure but… I need repairs immediately"!
He was met with the voice of B1.
"We're sorry sir, but we cannot help you now. Things are… not under control here. Can you move? I have order for you to return to base ASAP."
He glanced down at his legs and tried to move them, only for sparks to spray out of his "wound".
"Umm… no. My legs are damaged."
"Are there any other survivors nearby who could carry you?"
He glanced over what was left of his unit. 2 B1s, one missing an arm, a single B2 with holes in his armor, and the Dwarf Spider Droid.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" He grumbled, as he ordered the B1s over to him.
"What can we do s-sir?" The one missing an arm said in a glitchy voice.
"I need help. Can you try to pull this… thing out of me?"
"Roger, Roger!"
The 2 B1s sat down and placed their hands on the spear
"Ok… pull- AHH!"
He said as they tugged quickly at the spear, wrenching it free of his abdomen.
"Owwwww…" he said, and he felt the pain of them pulling it out "how do I look down there" he asked
One of the Droids bent down and investigated his abdomen.
"I see a lot of wires, and circuits, aaand a hole."
"How bad is the damage?!" He shouted.
"Oh. Um… do you want me to try and twist some of the wires back together? Or leave them the way it is?"
OOM-340 groaned. "Of course, I want you to fix it!"
The droid began twisting different wires together, suddenly being kicked by OOM-340
"Ow! Watch it!"
"You connected it! Don't have schematics for what does where?"
"Um, no sir."
OOM-340 was really getting tired of his subordinates' idiocy. This must have been a B1 whose programming was very simple, and still somehow corrupted, at least he was an upgraded OOM series. He had better memory and programming and thank the maker they had fixed the control signal issue and he could now think independently.
The B1 continued to twist around with the wires until suddenly OOM-340 regained some feeling in his legs.
"Stop!" Shouted "I think I can walk now."
He stood up wobbly and took a few steps. He looked like a tan skeletal infant learning to walk. His legs weren't working perfectly, but at least he could walk. Besides, he didn't want some idiot screwing around with his wiring any more than needed.
"Alright let's go." He said, picking up his E-5 and Electro binoculars "command wants us back at base"
With that, he and his remaining squad mates set off for the outpost...