//------------------------------// // ACT 3: Rescue // Story: Metal Gear Twilight : Magical Espionage Action // by DJ-Otakon //------------------------------// A/N: I uploaded this chapter without a round of editing so please don't be too harsh. I just figured I would go ahead and get it up here so that I would stop putting it off. BTW for all of those who might be new to reading this story or who don't read people's blog posts: I'm in the Navy now, and I'm training for nuclear engineering. Spare time isn't something I have a lot of right now, but this helps me to relax and take my mind off things. Please take it easy on my grammar at lease until I get an editor to take a peek at it, or I find the time to actually take it apart and proofread it myself. Any way thank you all for reading. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The elevator grinded to a halt at the top floor of the facility. It dinged as the doors smoothly hissed open. I peeked around the edge of the elevator, and saw that the hallway was clear of guards. I walked out of the elevator and went up to the first door. It had an number one in white in the top corner. It looks like this is another one of those doors that needs one of those cards to open. I checked my radar and, sure enough the red objective marker led to that room. Fluttershy was apparently in the first cell inside of the room. There were two other cells, but only one other was occupied. There had to be a way into the room. I turned on my codec and selected the Princess’ frequency. The codec beeped, and then went blank. After another second the screen flickered back to life with the Princess in view. “Hello Twilight, did you need something?” She asked. “Um...Yea how exactly am I supposed to get into the prison cell. It’s locked and the door codes don’t work.” I replied. “Oh well that is a problem. Let me look at the schematics of that floor,” She paused for a moment and looked away from the screen, “Oh. Here it is. There should be an access panel for the cells ventilation system down the hallway and around the corner.” “Ok thanks.” I said. Then I switched the codec off. I walked past the door and proceeded down the hall. Then, just as the Princess said, there was a ladder leading into a vent that was bolted shut. I climbed up the ladder, and put a magical field around the bolts. One by one I twisted them out until the vent cover came loose. I gently set it down next to the ladder. With that done I put my hooves into the vent and got a hold to pull myself inside the ventilation shaft. [Loading...] Once inside of the shaft I pulled myself along until I reached the branch which led to the holding cell. Just as I had seen earlier the cell at the end of the room was empty. I pulled myself up to the next cell and....wait is that my brother? Shining Armor is the captain of the canterlot guard. Of course he would be here. What was I thinking. I would have to ask him about this later, because he had done something to jam the vent cover in place. After that I pulled myself over to the next cell, and sure enough there was poor Fluttershy. She was just sitting there on the bed in the corner with most of her hair covering her face. The vent cover slid off very easily, and I set inside the shaft. I slid into the room head first and waited for Fluttershy to acknowledge my presence in the room. She looked up in a very sudden movement of her head, and retreated back with a little squeal. “Oh Twilight. It’s you,” She said as she hopped off the bed and flew up to help me out of the vent. “Thanks,” I said when she set me on the bed. “What happened Fluttershy?” I asked. She got onto the bed and sat next to me before she started, “Well, I was here to make sure the invention of Applejack’s meet the standards that we needed to start using it in the defense system of Equestria. It performed fine in all of the simulated test runs, but we needed to get an actual test run in, but before we were able to activate the system and input the false megaspell launch data for the test they took over.” “What is Applejack’s invention?” I asked. “She called it ‘Metal Gear REX’ it’s a mobile megaspell launching platform. It was designed to be deployed in several defensible areas around Equestria. It has the capability of firing a megaspell halfway around the world without the need of a missile to carry it.” She explained. “Wait, what do need a mobile platform for?” I asked. “Well a mobile platform is a lot harder to isolate and target than a stationary target like a city. Some of our largest cities such as Manehattan, Hoofington, and Canterlot have had emergency megaspell launching stations with massive shield spell generators installed to try deflecting any direct hits to the major population centers,” She paused and looked towards my brother’s cell. “I take it that my brother helped to develop those right?” I asked. “Oh yes. We wanted to make sure that they were the best so we had your brother input his spell matrices into the shield generators,” She replied, “but anyway back on topic, these mobile platforms can be deployed outside of the city’s shield generator. This needs to happen because we can’t launch any of the city’s megaspells once the shields are up. They protect from the inside and out. This will make the task of launching a counter attack whilst also putting the cities into a full lockdown a lot easier with fewer casualties.” Suddenly there was a thud and a rustling of fabric outside of the cell. I quickly motioned for Fluttershy to get back onto the bed as I flattened myself against the wall next to the door. It hissed open, and I immediately rolled around the corner with the gun drawn. Then suddenly the gun was knocked from my grip by a pink shield that blossomed out of nowhere, and then I notice that the pony standing just outside the door was my brother. He glared at me seeming surprised, but the glare faded away as he grabbed me in a hug whilst loudly saying, “Twilley what are you doing here?” “I was sent by the princess to come help to resolve the situation here.” I squeakily replied. After I was released from the death grip hug I motioned for Fluttershy to come on out. She came out slowly, but when she noticed my brother she livened up and quickly got beside me. It wasn’t a couple of seconds until we heard the clop of hooves against the metal floor of the hallway. As Shining Armor noticed the noise he said, “I guess there’s no time to explain, we’ve got company!” We both ducked behind him as the door shattered from an explosion and bullets started ricocheting off of the walls. Shining Armor threw up a shield bubble around us and the rounds bounced harmlessly off of it. I dove outside of the shield and whipped out the pistol and started a sideways sweep across the room using the pistol’s recoil to drive the shots home. I dove back into the door frame and used the wall for cover as another wave of soldiers poured into the room using grenades to force my brother against the wall. I changed the pistol’s spell matrix to the incendiary spell, and charged up the magic. While the gun was still charging I dove in front of my brother, and tossed one of the grenades back out into the hall with my magic, and then opened fire on the remaining ponies in the room. My horn flared as I held down the trigger and the gun fired a continuous beam at the rest of the side of the room chewing through the reinforced wall. The last charred body fell to the ground as my brother dropped his shield. I started to walk out of the room, but I heard him grunt so I turned around to see Fluttershy clinging to his hind leg. “Come on Fluttershy,” I said calmly to the yellow pegasus, “We need you to calm down, and find a safe location for you to hide until we can safely get you out of here-” “Wait a minute Twi,” my brother interrupted, “what and the hay was that?” “That is one of this gun’s special abilities. Apparently It can focus my own magical energy into its matrix and act enhance the firepower of the weapon itself.” I replied. “Well. Uh I have honestly nothing more to add after watching the whole light show you just put on. I can see that you can handle yourself. How about since I know this base better I take Fluttershy with me?” He asked. “If you don’t mind, that would be nice. That would also give me extra time to search for Applejack.” I replied whilst turning on the codec. I dialed the princess’ frequency and tapped send. The codec made its usual beeps before finally showing the princess on the screen. “I’ve successfully rescued Fluttershy. My brother is going to handle her protection and extraction while I continue my search for Applejack.” I said. She waited for a moment as she had been looking down when I had called. She looked up and said, “Oh hello Twilight, I’m glad that you managed to find your brother. He should be able to provide you with better assistance seeing as he is better acquainted with the layout and security functions of the base itself.” “Ok. Well do we have any other clues as to where they might be holding Applejack?” I asked while also sending her the the files that I had obtained from the terminal. When the upload finished I switched the screen back to the princess. “Judging by what I see here she would probably locked in the engineering block. They probably had her continuing work on finishing up the final calibrations on Metal Gear, but you know Applejack she’s not going to go down without a fight She is probably on the level just below the level that you came in on. Take the elevator down to storage level and find where they are keeping her.” She said before ending the call. I turned back towards my brother and said, “When you get her to safety let me know.” “Alright sis’. You be careful yourself.” He said. He turned away from me and started towards the door while gesturing for Fluttershy to follow along. As they finally exited the door it whooshed shut behind them. I looked turned around so that I could get a look at the terminal that the guard had been sitting at. It was still loaded with the screen with a roster of the cells’ previous captives. I backed out to the root menu and two alerts popped into view on the screen. These must be some new memos being sent around. The first was that the elevator from the loading dock area to the lower levels was being temporarily disabled due to an electrical fault. Crap. I hope they fix that before I need to go to the lower levels of this place. I closed the first memo and the second one took its place on the screen. This one looks a bit more interesting: “Good afternoon everypony, zebra, griffin, and to anyone else here I have good news we have finally secured the last bits of the facility. Right in time for the cavalry to arrive as well. We now have the two launch codes in order to get the weapon to work. Unfortunately, I will have to cut any celebration short due to the fact that even though we may have secured the facility we cannot step down our guard yet it seems that our target is not the only one who knows about the events that transpired today. Keep on the lookout for trouble, The one, the only THE Great and Powerful Trixie” Whoa hold on. Trixie is behind this thing? My mind raced back to the day she’d ran away. I really never saw her again since then, but I didn’t think anything of it. How did she lose it like this? Actually, better question how had she gotten an army together? This is all not making much sense at all. I’ve got to find Applejack before it’s too late. I just hope this map of mine knows what it’s doing. I walked up to the door and waited expectantly. My visor showed ACCESS DENIED in big letters. I wonder if the battle earlier had damaged it. Wait, no Shining Armor and Fluttershy had no trouble getting through it. I walked over to the guard and saw that there was a card on his uniform. I took it off and swiped it through the key card slot, the door opened with a pneumatic hiss. I walked into the hallway, and made my way towards the elevator. As I got closer I realized that the elevator was working. Something or someone was on their way up. I took advantage of the elevator's slow speed, and hid in a little room labeled as maintenance. A cloaked figure got out of the elevator. It stopped once it cleared the door. It looked around and paused for a few seconds before taking one of it’s hooves and marking the ground. Wait. Why am I getting dizzy. Everything is suddenly so fuzzy. *phomf*