Reiter, the pilot of the 04, stunted when he saw the bright blue eye of the Strike Zeta. Its glowing beam saber has cut his and the 03’s rifle in half.
“What on Earth…”
But before he get to finish the sentence, he was hit with another strike. Flash has furiously banged into his torso with his massive shield and immediately sends his GMIIIs fly off the base jabber. But it’s not enough for the hatred-filled pilot: Flash quickly takes the beam saber that he already has in his left hand and stabbed him right in the cockpit. Flash screamed furiously in the process, his eyes widening with blood veins visible on them. His mouth wide, allowing the anger to come out of his body, in form of a loud scream.
The strike immediately vaporized the pilot, as well as melted the majority of the inner surface of the cockpit. To avoid the possible Minovsky reactor explosion, Flash swiftly kicked it in the torso and watch it fall down the dense tree with itself falling face up.
The Minovsky explosion that happened after was massive: a giant bright pink hemisphere tearing through the air, vaporizing everything in its path. Its shockwave was so massive and powerful that it was not only visible by the rapid movement of clouds above it, but it also pushed the ships and the remaining mobile suits when they were all above the thing. It was understandable as the suit was falling down from nearly half a kilometer down with nothing to slow it down. According to Scerlite, it seems to blow when the thing touches the ground, which ultimately means the stab down caused the Minovsky explosion.
“Sweet Celestia…”
Haystack mumbles in shock. Luckily, all of them escaped the blast unscathed, except for some burns on the ‘belly’ section in the bottom of the ship and the base jabbers. Moran and his squad were safe, but they are somewhat shattered from the shockwave. It took the brown reindeer a few minutes to properly regain consciousness to continue fighting. When he touches his nose, he discovered that he was bleeding, while feeling his head is hurt like some creature trying to hammer a nail into the skull.
“What the…” he mumbled, “…hey guys, are y’all okay?”
“Yes… yes Sir! But we are hurting badly!” Esteban replied.
Moran was somewhat shocked to see Esteban’s suit, which is distinguished by the changeling’s wings emblem on the shoulder armor, having some burns on its armor which are even visible on dark paint. Haruna was also struggling to gain balance too, with her base jabber’s underside also painted in black burns.
The trio was the one who are nearest to the blast.
Then, Moran shifted his view towards his mother ship, to witness the battles being progressed.
Meanwhile, Flash has shifted his attention to the 03. He was shattered by the shockwave too. But even when his nose was bleeding, not because of the shockwave, but to his anger taking him over, Flash still managed to gain acceleration pace to straight up hugged the black MS. The 03 quickly grabbed the beam saber on Flash’s hand and somehow, it crushes the saber with bare hands, causing it to twist like a scroll of paper. The blade quickly died out. The duo then gets into a fist fight mid-air, with Flash having some advantages with a huge shield and more powerful booster.
The white MS attempted to make a kick into the GMIIIs torso, Flash’s most favorite fist fight method. The opponent's suit excellently blocked it in the process with a counter kick into the left shank, causing a large dent on the engine cover. But Flash didn’t give up just yet: he attempt to make another strike, but it was also stopped by the same method as before. The alarm that Flash receive on the monitor signal that his hands are in some sort of damage, with the hands glowing hot red on the tracking monitor.
“Damn it… the hands… stuck!” Flash groaned. The pushing war causes the base jabber to shake violently, as the rest of the creatures at the sight seen.
“Brandon, Scerlite here! Can you hold it a little longer?” the lime green combat operator said through the com link.
“How long?”
“Around 5 seconds!” he answered with his mouth close to the microphone “And by the way, can you make sure the base jabber is balanced?”
“Arrgh…”
The blue-haired pilot can’t really reply. His suit is being pushed further and further to the edge. The Zeta’s thermal nuclear engine didn’t help him much either: there’s something strange about his opponent. He suspected it was not a normal repainted MS, but a “testing upgrade package”, according to his own words. His speculation seems to be true, as the 03 fired up its thruster, creating a giant ball of fire and smoke behind its back.
“Sweet Celestia… that thing literally trapped a moon rocket on its back!” Moran exclaimed in his cockpit whilst sweeping the remaining blood on his nose “Hey Haruna, can you still shoot that thing down!”
“Yes, just targeting on the brightest part. Can you tell Brandon to pull away right now?”
“Now?”
“Yes, or else I’ll miss this moment!” the light cerise changeling said, carefully adjusting her targeting scope.
The “plus” symbol slowly floats towards where the thruster is located on the panoramic monitor, accompanied by a beeping noise to keep her concentrated on the target.
“Brandon, get out of there! Now!” shouted Moran through the comlink “There’ll be another explosion!”
The white Gundam listened. Flash concentrates all of his strength on the control stick to force the 03 to unlock the hands. He did. Flash launch himself out of the base jabber just a moment before Haruna fired her decisive shot from behind the 03.
In contrast to what Flash has heard, the beam only goes right through the right side of the torso, melting the metal in that section. The black MS stopped all of its life signs right away, standing still in the middle of the air. It slowly moved towards the edge of the base jabber like a fatally wounded soldier trying to grasp as much memory as he can before death. Only after it causes the base jabber to tip, the suit falling down the dense tree below it. A few seconds later, another gigantic Minovsky explosion occurred. But this time, Flash, Moran, and his squad rapidly divert from the blast’s diameter, so they only suffer some “bumpy shockwave”.
With the front of the Canterlot covered in smoke, the rest of the flotilla steamed through the air again.
On his chair, Discord makes a salute towards the fallen soldier of the Eagle Scream during the limited time he can still see its burning wreckage.
Despite the pain, the crew has to endure, they must turn their back to finish their fallen friends' job to final victory.
…
Water Vapor was caught crying while running towards the bridge, asking Discord to slow the ship down and turn back to save the “potential survivors” of the Eagle Scream. Discord answered him with a saddened face:
“Sorry son, there’s no way a regular creature can survive while trapped inside that ship and fallen down from that kind of height… But I’ll gonna ask rescuers to search the area…”
“Sorry… Captain! But they did save some survivor that somehow escaped the ship on time…” Scerlite reported. On the comlink, Moran breathed heavily and reported to the bridged with a somewhat panicking tone:
“Emergency, emergency! We have rescued two pegasuses and a changeling from the Eagle Scream, but they are badly burned. I need medical attention, now!”
With the hangars both wide open, almost half of the crew members rushed to the returned mobile suits to either do their job or satisfy their curiosity.
Flash was ordered to return to the Canterlot right after the 03 blew up, so he didn’t get to see any savings. But still, he was able to witness the victims with his own eyes.
They are badly burned, with a particular pony still having some smoke emitting from his body. Flash could see they were immediately put on the stretchers right after the moment they were transported from the hands of the MSs. The whole Moran squad only piloted their suit to the cages after all of the explosion victims were on their way to the sick bay.
It must be an extremely painful experience for any creature who has to go through it. He once heard creatures telling their heavily injured friend to keep begging to kill them because the wound was simply unbearable.
The sight also reminded him of Drake, the unlucky parrot that died due to the same kind of injury.
“That… that was really painful…” Yolinda’s stuttered into Flash’s ear “We really don’t want any creature to suffer for us… Flash, you should come for them!”
“I know…” Flash mumbled. Having witnessed the victims having severe bleeding due to the burns and their screams of agony, his heart squeezes. “Is this your vision when you are forcibly attacked Hope Hollow?” Flash mumbled, remembering the moment when Luster showed her team’s victim during the town’s rebellion breakdown.
“Fl… I mean...Brad!” yelled Haystack from below “Thank hoofness! Where have you been?”
The brown stallion quickly jumped onto the elevator and reaches the Strike Zeta’s cockpit. He was breathing rapidly when he finally came to Flash. Running right next to him is Era, whose just as exhausted as her commander.
“Hey… I… I didn’t mean this but… you should make sure the suit… intact until Klugetown!”
“Yeah… sorry…”
Right after the remaining three enemies, MS lost their commander, Flash sensing he should do something to his ship. When the bridge crew was still concentrating on the battle outside, he sneaked out of the bridge and ask a pegasus to fly him to the hangar, where the Strike Zeta was located. The moment Haystack find out his pilot had gone missing, it was already too late when Flash asked the ATC for clearance and then took off.
“To be honest, if it wasn’t for you, the whole ship will go down! So thank you first…” Haystack commented “But… why do you suddenly decide to go out there… Is your imaginary friend telling you to do so?”
“Ye… Yeah…”
Then, he recalled that moment when Grisela just keeps persuade him to fight. She knew he have the skill to settle the fight in the safest way for the whole flotilla.
“If you don’t go, you’ll either dead along with your crew or I’ll haunt you in your dream tonight!” he remembers the sassy voice of the griffon just screaming like she is right next, putting her beak right next to his ear. When he got out of the ship, the Parrot’s Strength have already been hit by one of the missiles.
“Good telepathic skill you got there…” Era said.
The trio was silent for a few seconds while looking at the hangar for a while, witnessing the hatch being closed. Haystack's teeth grind and suddenly, his hoof punches into the wall.
“Damn it… More than 70 lives just vanish before our eyes, yet none of us can do anything about it!” he said with his face wrinkled “I have on that ship… hope he can rest in peace…”
“Sorry Sir… but may I ask who’s that?”
“Chief Petty Officer Ethan Kimberley… he’s a human, just like you Era. But was once a wondered human accidentally being transported to this world… somehow… He was pretty kind, and he would help ponies with his beat-up MS any time they want to do heavy chores. When the war came, he refused to join Black Wine’s Army because Princess Twilight and Starlight Glimmer themselves have taught him what friendship meant to the creatures: he was found in Ponyville by the way…”
He sobbed for a few seconds afterward, remembering his comrades that were once his best pal.
“And… how about Water Vapor?” asked Era “Is… Is he okay?”
“Not so much. He’s crying a river down in his cabin… Poor guy, I even heard he has a partner at the Eagle Scream,… If true… that guy will have a hard sleep tonight…”
Then, Haystack turned back to the duo. He wiped his tear and looked at them with a determined eye. He said:
“We must not fail at Kludgetown, guys. He has to survive at all costs until then. Those who die today will lose their lives for nothing. I trust every single one of you: Yamina, WV, Blue Thunder,… both of you… to capture the Alicorn successfully and end this war!”
…
On that night, Rainbow Dash have ordered a small funeral for one who lost their lives in the battle above Halflinger Groove. Through the reports, there are about 80 deaths, 24 injured, and one ship lost, on one of the bloodiest days of the war. 75 of them are on the Eagle Scream, including her commander, captain Marin.
After the dinner, lines of creatures gathered at the opened hangars of the Canterlot, bringing with them the flying lanterns. They have acquired from a merchant airship that happened to come by them. The airship have decided to approach the flotilla when the captain saw the Alliance’s flag – a shield decorated with a six edges star on the front and two swords behind. The merchant airship, named Iron Dress Mare, was allowed to approach them by Rainbow Dash. From there, they proposed to give out free lanterns after the captain learned about the tragic battle they have just gone through that day.
Flash was ordered to overlook the meeting when the two ships are side by side with each other towards the sea. Security concern is always a priority when coming to meeting with civilians.
On that night, Flash could see both ships lighten up their lanterns and bring all of them up to the sky, representing the wish for the one who dies on the battlefield, can go to Vahalla.
“Hey Era, did you humans have anything like it?” Yamina asked the red-headed when Blue Thunder mentioned the Vahalla.
“Oh yes, of course! We tend to call it heaven, though. But in our world, people have a lot of words to describe heaven, but that word is all I know!”
There are 80 lanterns being released that night, representing the total number of deaths that day. He also overheard two of the injured creature saved from the Eagle Screamhave passed away. Some said that this would be the bloodiest day of the Alliance navy, but Flash doesn’t want to hear the coldness of statistics anymore.
He just wanted to witness, and understand, the pain of every life lost and the stories behind each of them.
Suddenly, he feels someone tap him on the shoulder. It was Era, with her hand holding a bright yellow lantern, the candle inside already lit up. Her face shows that she is getting emotional: she is holding it with the careness he hasn’t seen anywhere else.
“Hey, Brandon…” she said with a soft tone “…do you want to give this poor soul a final journey?”
She carefully put the lantern onto Flash’s palms, with the blue-haired pilot took it with the highest respect he could give. The candle lights are still burning as intensely as possible, giving them the feeling that the creature’s soul still has some regrets and they don’t want to leave yet.
“Hey… friend…” Flash whispered into the lantern “…I think you don’t know who I am… until now. You can call me Brandon… and she is Era, the human. You must feel really lonely right now, as there are no relatives or even friends there to say farewell to you. But it’s okay, we’re gonna be the ones who do that. We will comfort your soul…”
“And don’t worry… you have done enough things here…” added Era “You have brought so much joy, happiness, and help to countless creatures in this world. So don’t regret anything: your job here in Equus has over. Rest in peace, friend…”
Flash turned to Era, confusion taking over him as it was an extremely respectful ritual he thought he have to do. She nodded and put both of her hands on the lantern along with Flash. The duo decided to release it into the air, along with others that are said to be his or her comrades.
At first, the lantern just floated for a moment, as if the soul of that creature still have something he or she wanted to finish. Then, a small wind gust came, and they saw the lantern do something as if it wanted to say thank you to them. Only after that, it fly away, into the dense night of the jungle.
Right after that, Discord ordered his ship to head straight to the sea and steamed at full speed to Kludgetown. The message is clear: they want to settle the chase once and for all with a decisive battle.
…
“Wait… the entirety of that squad was downed?” Nikita asked with stuttering and disbelief “Like… all of them?”
“Sadly… yes…” Font Spaak said with his eyes down “They have fought with valiant until the end…”
“Damn it!” yelled Joseph.
He was the one who have overseen the squad’s training in Equestria and saw all of the graduates in front of the happy pony crowd in Ponyville, nicknamed the Equus’s Capital of Friendship. To him, is a fitting place for ponies to make friends with their human helpers and establish a stronger foothold in Equestria.
They are the GMIIIs that engaged the Parrot’s Strength when that ship stumbled upon them in the middle of the sky, around one and a half months earlier. After the suits were repaired, they were suggested by AE to paint them in black, “as a way to distinguish them with the normal force back in the Earthsphere”, as a mechanic explained to the squad’s leader and perhaps, the most experienced one, Lieutenant Megan Williams. In addition to that, some of the MSs being down have engaged Alliance force before, especially the Strike Zeta. They were all recovered and repaired afterward by AE.
Not much information has been reported to them since it was only a few hours after their signal was lost.
“To be clear, we are still waiting for the full report. The intelligence will take it directly from the Canterlot itself since their direct combat report is never inaccurate. But an initial report from some civilians living in the groove said that there are two massive explosions… So… So…”
“So what? They are basically dead by now?” asked Nikita in frustration “It’s you greedy dumbass who send us to this alien world. You guys didn’t even shed a tear when one of us dead. Heck, even that asshole Black Wine seems to care more about us humans that you!”
He breathes heavily, with his eyes turning red but tears also running down his cheek. His friends, especially Amanda, Muller, and Reiter, who unfortunately fighting in Megan’s squad. The leader was also a close friend to Joseph too, as she and he were once sides by side during their military career.
That’s also why all of them have an uneasy feeling, that the moment they saw them off to a new military base far away will be the last ever moment they can see or hear them alive.
Not even Mark, whose generally very collective, was staying cold. He was spotted going left to right in front of his MS, looking down the floor thinking. The ship’s crew speculated he was also in the mood with the rest of his squad. To be fair, they are shocked to learn the suits are being downed, as some of them are really popular among the crew. Megan, while she can be a total maniac inside her cockpit, many crew members know her excellent singing voice whenever she took karaoke with her pony friends. Mark was actually completely blown away when in a karaoke room when they first heard her singing “You got a friend in me”…
“What the… Hey hey… I remember you’re…. like… really brutal!” Mark asked in disbelief after she put the microphone down that night.
“Argh… I’ll gonna blown you away like that if you mess with me…” she laughed, but then her voice turned sweet “But… my voice like… really kawaii?”
“Yeah yeah!” the trio replied.
But on that depressing night, her laugh gradually faded from his mind.
A few hours later, the news came:
“Only one possible survivor, guys…” Font said with sadness “There is one that was said to…”
“Why the hell you send all of them to battle, at once?” Nikita yelled, this time with his eyes wide open. His voice immediately drew the attention of the whole hangar.
“Listen… buddy…”
“And why do you have to force us to wait so long here? Do you want me to be bait?”
“Hey guys, listen!” this time, the EEU’s commander yelled “I don’t mean to get you killed like that. That’s why I decided to send all of them to sink the Canterlot all at once. They are the hope of that whole cursed Alliance. Your ship is lacking fuel and supply, so I have advised your Captain to stay…”
“Liar! You want us here as bait for those pesky creatures!” Nikita screamed again “To you, we are expendable, that’s why you react to my friend's death so emotionless. Do you know that…”
“Damn it Nikita, I do feel for them! Don’t you think I will just sweep this job all under the rug because our fellow human beings were killed by those unpredictable animals?” Font barked back “Now, all I have you to know is the whole Earth Federation care for y’all. The supplies are on their way to your ship, I promised… But in case those creatures came…”
“Sir… I think you should at least let our ship leave the dry dock.” Joseph interfered “Those creatures possibly have known the Alicorn Gundam is here, and they will come for it.”
The Captain was silent for a while, looking down at his table and thinking about something. He was known to have that kind of gesture when there is some information he has to properly process.
That moment allows Joseph to look around the hangar. It was a shock and heartbroken moment for Nikita and Mark, who have a lot of connections to the squad. Nikita even kneeled against the wall, push his forehead into it and cry.
It was a shock for him as well. According to a report from the Canterlot themselves, the commander was taken down and exploded, meaning that…
Megan was dead.
He still did not fully believe it. “Why should I believe words from the enemy?” he asked himself. But the feeling that it might be true just keeps growing stronger. He keeps burying it, but the feelings just come up to him like an unstoppable tsunami of sadness.
Feeling that he need some relief from the sad atmosphere around, Joseph decided to take walk to the launcher, where’s Mihiro also standing there with some ponies and human mechanics to breathe the fresh smell of night’s air.
The moon is shining above them as always, but it was mostly taken up by the lights of nearby buildings and houses of Kludgetown. The place was known by its night activities, with creatures of all types walking around to do their activities: Joseph spotted some shark-like creature, an old anthropomorphic turtle with a large bag on his back, and a couple of 2 legged hammerhead sharks walking down the street hand in hand.
“That’s a very bizarre place… to say the least… This town is like it comes out of a child's nightmare! But… I guess… now we are in Equus anyway…” said Mihiro when she first saw the town and its citizens.
“Hey…” she greeted with a slight smile but mixed with some sadness.
“Hey…” he greeted her back.
“So… how are Nikita and Mark? Are they fine?” she asked.
He sighed, then replied “To be honest, not so much. Nikita probably just lost some of his best friends. Better leave him alone right now, I think…”
“Yeah… I don’t know if this battlefield can be so brutal. Do you shocked when hearing that… announcement, too?”
“Yes, absolutely… But I have to take this with a grain of salt. It was a report from the enemy… not our official one. Yes… there are explosions being reported, but I still need solid proof…”
He talked with some stuttering, his eyes tearing up. She knows that although he and the Foaledo-based squad have a large difference in ages and there’s the fact that his trio is their trainer, they have a very close brotherhood bond of fellow comrades that fighting with each other for years. Pilots could form a very unbreakable friendship when they are deployed on the battlefield, laughing with each other while dealing with their enemies.
This event was one of a few that reminded them Equus was still a very unforgiven alien world, and that they still know very little about it.