But to Flash, that declaration isn’t enough. It is the moment that he found that being commissioned by the Elements of Harmony to free them out was too much of a burden for him to bear, despite he gets to go through that along with the Elements themselves.
They suddenly decided to formally surrender the Canterlot, making the whole crew shocked even more. “Tell them who you are!” Rainbow Dash urged “Doesn’t you want to go back to that ship?”
When Flashjust attempted to open his mouth, the ship immediately open fire on him, along with some of his comrade’s MS. Their intense firepower shocked Flash. For a brief moment, he forgot what he was in. The blue-haired pilot struggled to keep himself in the air. As Twilight has declared, they will not use any of their magic, at least for a while from that moment, so the friends get to inspect his pilot skill for a while. Despite the few physical bullets and warheads bouncing off the armor and leaving scratches here and there, the machine was still perfectly functional. All thanks to his perfectly focused mind that gives all its energy to the control stick and the pedal. The pain isn’t enough to get the guy
“Hey, he's pretty skillful!” Fluttershy gasped as she witnessed the blue-haired pilot smoothly dodging all the beam shots from his comrades.
“Look at his leg. I can NOT fathom how he can the jumping and dodging so PERFECTLY synchronizing!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
And, once again ignoring the pain, Flash was getting to open his mouth. The distorted voice painfully pronounces every word as clearly as possible.
“Stop... attacking... US!”
“Us? Don’t say that! I don’t want trouble!” Starlight said unamusingly “Just say me!”
“Die you monster. DIE!” a familiar voice barked back. It was Yamina, the yak that was one of the most influential friends in his old squad, beside Haystack. He didn’t get to talk to her much, but her kindness has always made him feel welcome.
That’s also why his subtle fight with her was so heartbroken for him. Despite his call, she still did not reply. “Yamina, it’s me! It’s me! Brad...”
“Don’t you dare impersonate my friend!” she screamed as her black mobile suit launch itself towards Flash. Vowing to not fight back, he has to quickly dodge her fury, and step aside for it to crash into a bunch of trees. “I will not fight you! I’m sorry I have to sit in this thing!”
That move is also the reason why Flash started to get distracted. He receives a direct beam shot to one of the shield-like-wing on his back almost immediately, causing it to explode. Thus, he got to experience the deafening scream that comes from Fluttershy.
“Damn it! Flash, get out of here, now!” ordered Rainbow Dash. “Staying here longer and all of us will be grilled, LITERALLY!”
But they didn’t wait for Flash to do anything. The machine quickly lightens up it’s psycho frame, something Flash knew but never saw in action within the MkII Gundam before. The light from it somehow cooled down the humidity of the non-air conditioned cockpit, as it cooled down his burns. He feels way better physically, but the scream of his new friend sends chills down his spine. He finally takes the order and pilots him and the Council out of both sides’ sight.
And it was the coolness of the magical aura, not the slow healing of his injury, making Flash’s focus slowly fade into the vacuum of consciousness. He slowly closed his eyes, relaxing his muscle and breathing in synchronization.
“Relax pal, you already have a big fight on your own…” Applejack slowly mumbled, “Let us take you somewhere calm and safe…”
On the Canterlot, Discord decided to override all of the authorities and order all the guns to be silenced. “That thing didn’t attempt to harm anything or any of us, let alone posed a threat!” he reasoned.
“It… It… didn’t return to the Las Pegasus or the Cloudsdale! Is that mean someone else is taking that mobile suit?” Queen Katherina asked as if she understand the situation like every other soldier on board. After all, the Psycho MkII Gundam has earned its infamous reputation as the “Boss Mobile Suit” across most of Equus, both in HGA’s kingdoms and Equestria.
“But Sir!” barked Haystack “That thing just kill one of our comrades without even touching him and destroy a vast area of the forest with whatever that colorful hemisphere is! We can’t let it escape!”
“I want to destroy it!” followed by Yamina “Too many souls have died by this!”
This draws Discord and the remained pilots into an oral battle, both of which try to protect some of the most radical ideas and strategies. For the crew members, it is impossible for them to not sympathize with their ship’s MS pilot. They just lost a comrade, one that is incredibly hard to find and almost impossible to replace. Life is both extremely invaluable and valuable at the same time on the battlefield, depending on what position a soldier could be one. But Blue Thunder is more than just a military pilot. He is a well-respected individual who has battled his mobile suits with its large humanoid enemy for more than a year at that moment. But little did they know, that the creatures that all of them also hold dear too, especially Discord since a particular pegasus mare named Fluttershy, was stuck in that dark blue painted machine. This fact was only getting into their mind when, suddenly, Discord mentioned her dear friend's name:
Needless to say, Haystack, Yamina, and all of the creatures suddenly went silent in shock when Discord screamed “Fluttershy is in there! I heard her voice!”
“What?” Every creature was shocked.
“The Psycho MkII… It may be possessed by the Elements of Harmony themselves!” he said.
“Wait… wait… hold on… What just happened.” Queen Katherina asked in disbelief “You wanted to say they were somehow stuck in that thing? Or…”
“I want to catch it, no matter what the cost is!” Discord said confidently “The Alicorn will be an afterthought, for now. In our condition, capturing the Psycho MkII Gundam is the most feasible way to help us gain even ground with Black Wine and his army!”
“Yup, he’s right…” Lyra sighed and nodded her head, albeit hesitantly “It is all alone on its own right now, plus severe damages thanks to our enemy and Yamina shot into one of its shield-like-wing.”
Queen Katherina also nodded. She turned to the ship Captain and said to him “Command whatever you want, but be cautious.”
The draconequus officer quickly salutes the Diamond Dog queens. “I’ll take your advice to heart, your Majesty!”
…
“Geez, I have forgotten how smart they are! My bad, my bad…” Black Wine hastily explained to his subordinate “I’m sorry for any loss, or damages you guys sustained. By the way, good job Nikita. I’ll buy you a drink later man.”
“But don’t you REALLY want to take back that thing? The Psycho MkII, I mean.” Nikita questioned in frustration.
His face then turned more and more darker, as his tears run down his face. “You have no idea how much Joseph meant to me. He is my childhood friend and at the time... He is my only. If not because of him, I haven’t gotten out of my autistic mind... Killing that brat Brandon is the least I can do to pay him the respect I haven’t properly done.”
“I feel for you, mate.” Mark wrapped his arm around his saddened comrade. “He is a brave soldier.”
“But now is not the time for mourning. You boys can do that on an appropriate day.” Said Red Velvet casually, her hooves caressing one of her long strands of mane “I could foresee there are even harder days awaiting us. Do not lose your temper!”
“I think we can commission you guys to be the new commanders of a squadron that I will plan later. We have to ask your superior to buy more MS for an upcoming battle.”
“Where is that, Sir?” Mark asked.
“You probably all heard about Everfree forest, right?” the dark blue pony pulled down the map behind his back, showing the progress of the, at that moment, the ongoing siege on the Everfree’s main royal city is in a stall... Literally!” he pointed to one of the strongholds, where his troops reported that the Everfree reindeer force have their magic so strong it resisted their fire for hours. Equestrian main advancement tactic is to burn the trees so fast the forest can’t regenerate. However, this tactic might not be so effective anymore.
“I don’t know why.” he stroked his beard “My speculation is that their magic has allowed for the to generate fire resistance trees, or more likely, vines. I wanted our ship to go there and investigate.”
“Isn’t there already mobile suits there?” Red Velvet questioned. “As much as I am aware, they are effective in busting through enemy strongholds.”
“Not anymore. They are nearly decade-old MS with almost no propulsion: Zakus Ground Type, GM Ground Type, and one or two Guntanks. There are enemies outside of the siege circle, and they make them immobile in some places. Damn those AE tycoons. They don’t even sell us enough rocket fuel for their engines!”
“So... you want our MS to go their forest and swoop down right above their head?” Mark asked jokingly.
“Yes… I call it a Tactical Eagle Swoop!” said Black Wine with a signature villain laugh, making Red Velvet chuckle. “Imagine our MS just jumped down from nowhere and rained those filthy reindeer with our beam. Well… as much as I know trees can’t fly!”
The whole gang laughed at his joke, all with widely opened mouths. It was a rare opportunity for them to relax in their crusade, thinking they could save their homes.
“Hey, do you think they are gonna throw vines up in the air?”
“With what, tree catapults?” Black Wine chuckled “Then my Cancer will be sent them right back, this time with fire.”
…
“Flash, wake up!” the voice of the Ruler of Equestria smoothly sweeps through his ears “We have arrived!”
“Arrived where?”
“Uhm… Our army, I guess?” Rainbow Dash answered. The machine has chosen to land in the middle of the forest, far from a large military base but still close enough for them to see the creatures walking around. There are some mobile suits displayed, alongside other military assets.
“Guys... I don’t think that’s a good idea to just come... right?” Pinkie Pie asked anxiously and shivering, knowing just storming into the base would cost them even further, and absolutely unwanted damages. She looked up to Twilight, hoping the wise ruler of Equestria will shed some light.
“How about we just come in and use our magic, disabling their weapons, and ask?” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“No way, RD. Remember that we have to refrain from using magic.” said Starlight “Do not make them freak out, remember?”
“Arrgh! Flash, you have absolutely no plan on this?” Spike scolded “You are a soldier, dude!”
“Spike, let him rest…” Twilight persuades him to calm down “He just got severe burns…”
“Well, because you said that we need to refrain to use the Magic of Friendship, this guy is the only logical choice for the majority of the time we are stuck in this steel moving tower. Hey Flash, how about you just get out of this thing and go ask your… I don’t know… Friends if we can stay here for the night?”
“Spike, he’s injured, we should…”
Rarity persuasion was cut short once the pilot himself speak up, albeit with just an easy-going voice, a small gust of wind that just enough to make the flute shape of a damaged vocal chord to ring.
“I... I... will... Sir!”
The whole group turned their head at Flash and gasped. Applejack was then having one of her eyebrows raised. “Ya sure buddy? I think you should…”
Once again, Flash cut his friends' sentence by opening the hatch. The sounds of the air being sucked out certainly startled some birds which choose to rest on the trees nearby. “Can… you guys… help me comes down? I… I think I’m… okay right now…”
“Dude, you literally just been grilled! Lo… Look at those burns! Rest on this chair and we’ll find some help for CELESTIA shake!” she resort to full-on scolding when the blue-haired pilot still standing near the pilot chair, with his arm wrapped around his heavily injured body.
“I… I’ll took… this wire… then…” his hands take a lever which contained a cable, the one which allowed pilots to come down from the cockpit when there’s no outside elevator, a relic of a war not a few decades ago. Slowly but surely, the brake on the cable wheel helped Flash descend into the humid ground without any electronics to help.
Now, imagine the shocking faces of soldiers, both Equusian and some humans alike, when they saw a human, littered with burns on his flesh, slowly and even agonizingly walked towards them. “I need help, my MS was damaged!” he screamed with all of his power from his lungs and then collapsed. The creatures rushed towards him and put him on a stretcher and readied the sickbay. Everything finished so fast that they chose to ignore his old, overused, and bastardized. “I’ll tell their fashion department once all the dust is settled. I want them to get him the best uniform possible...”
Twilight give her a side eye when the middle-aged unicorn nearly finished the sentence.
A few minutes later, the soldier also found the mobile suit he mentioned. Its damages are also not so different than it supposed pilot: no parts on its armor are free of scratches and dents, and some burned parts. One of the joints stuck to the point it's the left arm is unusable. And, especially, it nearly destroyed the left shield-like wing on its back.
Pinkie Pie insist they should change the name to the “Alicorn Wing” system a few days later, which met with agreement from her friends.
...
“So… what’s your name again?” a white dragon asked in a bored tone, seemingly wanting to just storm out of the sickbay once all the Q&A was done. She doesn’t want all the blood and body fluid to stick on to her freshly groomed fur. Yes, she is a furry dragon, a rare kind, as Flash was known through her annoyed reply when he asked his mind out loud of why she looked so “grumpy”.
“Should I use my own name or just Brandon?” he thought.
“If you are smart enough, then I would say just go with the made-up name you give yourself, mate.” Rainbow Dash whispered
“Brandon, Brandon Cultrich!”
“What a cringy, unoriginal name…” the dragon mumbled “Okay, Brandon Cultrich…”
“Ah, is this our newly captured human from the Equestrian Army?” a griffon said out loud, sending his voice echoing throughout the entire sickbay.
“Sir… Sir… Please let our patient rest…” an earth pony nurse whispered.
“Oh… Sorry, I don’t remember that. My name is Gromar, Chief Commander of Harmony Guardian Alliance’s Southern Battalion!” he said gleefully. “I know you are not someone we should trust, but you have just brought something we all need!”
“What do you mean?”
“The mobile suit...” his beak touches Flash’s nose when he comes close to him to say his intention in the most intimidating tone Flash has ever encountered “An invincible weapon to war is waiting for us to exploit?”
“Wait, what?” exclaimed Spike.