//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: The Pilots of the Storm Dancer // by Green-Venom //------------------------------// 4 weeks later Apple Bloom yawned, as she slowly rose from her bunk, blinking a few times to get the sleep out of her eyes. Soft sunlight was shining in through a window, indicating the beginning of a new day. No birds, however. There hadn’t been any birds singing for quite a while now. Looking around she saw that she was the first to wake up. Nothing unusual there. As a former farmer, she always rose early. As she headed for the door, she walked past the bunks of her friends. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were sleeping in one of the double beds. They had been with her from the very beginning ever since the Storm started. The second bunk housed the newer members of the team, Button Mash and Rumble. Be it destiny or dumb luck, the robot had run into the two shortly after the Strom had started. Both of them had been outside of the shield when Ponyville went into lockdown, and the girls had decided to bring them inside the safety of the machine since Ponyville was no longer an option. She internally sighed as she thought back towards Ponyville. The place they used to call home, and the place that had been denied to them ever since the Strom fell across Equestria. She still clearly remembers the day when they tried to return home, and failed. Upon seeing I-ris, the citizens of Ponyville panicked, and Twilight had engaged them. Even the robot couldn’t withstand the full force of alicorn magic over a long time, especially when they couldn’t return fire not wishing to hurt anypony. I-ris had refused to return ever since that incident, stubbornly avoiding the town like the plague and the fillies knew that it was suicidal to attempt to make the journey without the robot’s protection, so until he proved to be more cooperative they were stuck. Pushing these thoughts aside she decided to take the elevator. It was too early to walk the stairs, and there was no emergency. A bit later the elevator doors opened, and she stepped onto the bridge, a now all too familiar room. A large windshield opened up to the world in front of her revealing a barren landscape, devoted of any non-plant life. A single gargantuan monster could be seen in the distance, but it hadn’t noticed the robot so far. Whatever stealth tech Button had implemented into the robot seemed to be working. She would never understand how the colt was capable of implementing video game tech into the real world, but I-ris seemed to be capable of understanding his ramblings, and the two generally worked well together, so she wouldn’t complain as long as it worked. She was simply glad that the attacks in the middle of the night were over now, allowing for some proper night rest, instead of having to rush to the bridge in the middle of the night. Shaking her head, Apple Bloom focused back on the present. “System check?“ the filly asked, more out of routine than anything. Due to her strengthening connection to I-ris she was getting a lot better at sensing when something was off. She still needed the piloting platform to do anything outside of basic sensing, but her skill was improving which proved to be advantageous. A sudden pain flared through her stomach, making her stumble. Well, most things were of advantage. The fact that the shared senses included pain was not one of them. “Well, all systems are alright, except for the kitchen, which is currently on fire.“ I-ris decided to finally speak up. “On a related note, Sweetie Belle is awake…“ “Sorry…“ Sweetie Belle smiled awkwardly, standing next to a smoldering cooking pot, the fire having been extinguished not too long ago. “I really thought I got it this time…“ Apple Bloom facehoved “Seriously? We’re low on food as it is, now we need to go scavenging again, and that means leaving the robot… You know, out there where giant monsters are wandering around?“ Sweetie Belle’s ears dropped. “I’m really sorry, but I wanted to be useful somehow… You and I-ris are keeping the monsters away, Scootaloo and Rumble are scavenging outside for supplies in the abandoned towns, and Button is maintaining and upgrading the robot.“ The unicorn filly sad down, head dropping in sorrow. “All I do is take up space and eat…“ Apple Bloom internally winced. “Not this topic again…“ “Sweetie Belle, you know that’s not true. You’re helping where you can…“ The unicorn filly simply sighted, and started cleaning up the mess she created. Apple Bloom looked at her for a moment before turning back towards the door. “I will wake up the rest. There’s a village not too far from here, maybe we can find something useful as we haven’t been there yet.“ She gave Sweetie Belle a soft smile. “Be sure to be on the bridge for departure in 30 minutes alright? We’ll put this right, no damage done.“ Sweetie Belle simply nodded, silently continuing her work. BRRRRRRT! The monster screeched in agony, as it was ripped apart by small metal fragments traveling at supersonic speeds. Stumbling a bit it managed to run a few more meters, before collapsing, joining the other corpses on the ground. While every single one of these creatures was almost twice the size of an adult pony, they stood no chance against the hunter, a giant metal behemoth that was towering above the village. A single chaingun was mounted on its shoulder, the barrel of the weapon still glowing red from usage. “I don’t know what types of video games you used to play, but they must’ve included some serious violence.“ “It has nothing to do with violence.“ Button Mash protested. “I simply think chainguns are badass.“ “I second that!“ Scootaloo stepped away from the control console with a wide grin, before looking at Apple Bloom. “Did we get all of them?“ “Yes that was it, I-ris can’t sense any more monsters in town. It should be safe to look around, but we should hurry before something potentially bigger comes around to check in on the commotion…“ Rumble nodded, throwing over his saddlebag. “On it. Let’s start with the pharmacy, we desperately need more medical so anything we can get should be useful. I-ris can deal with figuring out what‘s what.“ Scootaloo nodded, following him into the elevator. “I also saw a supermarket.“ she added. “There should be food down there.“ A bit later silence filled the bridge, all the remaining foals carefully looking out the window as a subtle tension filled the air. These missions were always the most dangerous, and despite I-ris‘s sensors, there was always the risk that he could’ve missed something. After a while they could see the pegasi, aiming toward the pharmacy in a quick trot. “Marco!“ Sweetie Belle quickly pressed some buttons on the radio. “Polo! The connection is stable.“ “Alright, we’re going in then… Wish us luck!“ Silence again. When it was finally broken, only Apple Bloom could hear it. “DUCK! Some son on a gun has been ghosting! Call them back now! There‘s still something out there, and it's avoiding my sensors!“