//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Concussive shell Season // Story: Of Archon Toilets and Bioballs // by MiniPsyker //------------------------------// Mike laid on the grass with his visor covering his face from the sun, snoring as loud as a Terran could. His mission to secure the sacred tickets days ago had met disastrous results, and so did the castle. But, just like any other Terran, he shrugged it off and ignored the fact, since he was still alive and kicking. "Stampede!!" Rainbow Dash screamed as the earth shook violently. Mike raised his visor and stared at her with an annoyed expression. "Will you shut up?! I'm trying to sleep over here!!" He yelled. Then, he noticed the small earthquake he was ignoring. He quickly stood up, lowered his visor, and ran to the main road to get a better line of sight at the source of the noise and movement. He only stared, seeing a giant cloud of dist moving at tremendous speed towards Ponyville. "Holy mother of mercy..." He muttered to himself. Then, he ran directly in front of the bridge, with twenty marines already holding their position right behind him. Mike turned around to face his forces, and while the great stampede moved closer and closered, mustered his courage. "Sons of Tarsonis, of Korhal, my brothers!" He began yelling at his men while the stempede drew even nearer. "I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Terrans fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered helms, when the age of Terrans comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Equestria, I bid you stand, Men of the Dominion!" His men began furiously cheering and throwing their arms in the air, with Mike turning around to face the great stampede. "For Korhal!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he pointed at the unknown enemy. He, with his twenty marines, charged forwards to face the great foe. "Yeehaw!" Applejack yelled as she chased the cow stampede. "Put 'em up, girl!" She cheered Winona as they both narrowed the lines of the stampede. "Come on little doggies, turn!" She said as she hit one of the cows to fall in line. Then, she whistled towards Winona. "Winona, put 'em up!" She and Winona both jumped over the cows with great confidence, as if this was just another day in the somewhat violent office. "Ha hah! Gotcha!" After that, she began preparing her lasso to throw it against the leader of the bovine rebellion. She threw it, expecting to catch the cow by the neck, only to receive something else entirely. "What in tarnation?!" She violently asked herself as she dodged a marine she accidentally lasso'd, with the poor marine screaming all the way to the ground. By dodging, she also lost balance and the violent movements of the cows threw her to the ground, and by the time she recovered she saw that there wasn't a stampede anymore, just a conglomeration of cows, marines and ponies arranged in a circle staring at the center while cheering, as if spectating something. Applejack, completely dumbfounded, decided to check, closing in distance until she was right behind the wall of cows, steel marines and ponies, pushing her way forward to see what the ruckus was about. What she didn't expect, however, was to see Mike and Mooriella having a freestyle wrestling championship tournament. "...What?" Mike dodged a hoof to the face and quickly maneuvered behind Moorielle, kicking her knees, grabbing her by the stomach and executing a german supplex by using both their weights against her. As she recovered crouching, he grabbed her from the front by the chest, lifted her until she was upside down, and piledrove her to the ground, knocking her unconcsious. He victoriously raised his arms in the air as the marine force cheered at him and threw him flowers and half opened energy cans, with the bell ringing granting him the well deserved title of "Master cow-wrestling professional champion." "..." Applejack just stared with her mouth open. She didn't understand half of what just happened, let alone understand anything Mike had done in his arrival. She kept staring as the 19 marines carried Mike to his throne, with the remaining marine tied with a lasso trying to catch up with them. "And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the prize, Pony of Ponyville Award, to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend..." Mayor Mare turned to the curtain and raised her hoof towards it. "Mike!" The curtain opened, only to reveal nothing behind it. Of course, the hole in the floor implied the obvious: The weight of his power armor made him fall down below to the depths. Ignore the fact that the wooden floor constructed there was directly above solid ground. "I ain't no damn pony, I'm a Terran!" A voice echoed from the depths below. "Wait, a prize!? Ahem, uhh guys I think I might be a pony. For today anyways." "Man I'm starving..." A marine that followed Mike around stated. "We haven't eaten for days..." "I know that pain, son..." Mike responded. "Wasn't there a pony around that made sweets or something?" "Far as I know that pink pony whatever her name was had a store called 'Sugarcube corner'. If the name's something to go by, well, you know." "True. I also heard before falling down that pit before receiving the prize that she was gonna bake a load of... Something. Might be a good opportunity." "For more than a hundred marines and SCVs?" The marine asked with skepticism. "You shrug off the fact that there are pastel-coloured talking small ponies, pegasi and unicorns living in a fully functional medieval society yet you worry about supply and demand?" "Touché. Hey what's that thing?" The marine asked upon seeing a blue pegasus flying around, but not as if it was at will, but as if it was shot out of a catapult. "Welcome to Equestria." A few hours later... "Free muffin sample spectacular!" Pinkie Pie said with joy behind a counter, with several muffins in front of her. "Yeah! Muffin spectacles! Get 'em while they're hot." Applejack said on the brink of falling asleep. Once the smell of the freshly-baked muffins spread out, a small earthquake suddenly began affecting everyone. It wasn't another stampede, it was more than a hundred starving marines running as fast as their legs allowed towards the muffins, with a giant blinding cloud of dust following them. They, with the cloud, reached the muffins, and once the cloud dissipated, they disappeared into the distance. Almost no muffins remained. "Damn sods." Mike sighed as he looked for a muffin. "Leaving me with almost nothing. Oh hey there's one." He grabbed one as his face lit up with extreme joy. But before he could hace a taste of the muffins of questionable creation, his visor began beeping at an alarming rate. He put the muffin back on the counter, lowered his visor, and checked what was wrong. In his visor he saw a top-down view of Ponyville, with his base gathering minerals and creating soldiers. On the bottom left of his visor, there was a minimap. On the bottom, details on what he was selecting at the moment with a wireless connection. On the bottom right, several orders he could give to the selected unit. And on the top right, minerals, gas and supply counts. As far as he could see, the supply was far higher than what would limit him in a conventional match, it was even higher than 200, as if only the amount of supply depots limited him. But what he noticed was that his supply count was tremendously dropping at an incredible rate, until it reached a point where it stopped. It's as if something had killed most of his marines in a short time span. "What." "Uhhh..." Pinkie Pie worringly muttered as her face turned to a shade of green. "I don't feel so well..." "Boy, that was hard work." Applejack said not understanding half of the stuff that was going on due to sleep deprivation. At this time Pinkie Pie fell to the floor knocked out, releasing the muffin she was eating in an overly dramatic slow-motion manner. "Yeah... No thanks..." Mike unnervingly said as he left the muffin on the table, thinking it was poisoned by Applejack as sign of revenge for stealing her prize. "Hmmm... I've been using marines all the time..." He began thinking, before giving out a smile. "Ka-boom, baby!" A marauder yelled, jumping out of a barracks with a tech lab add-on. "Welcome to the fray, soldier." Mike greeted him. "Got good news for you. Since we're in Equestria, your life expectancy has increased by two minutes." "Woohoo!" The marauder cheered with his arm grenade launchers thrown in the air. "So, what's up?" "Meh." He shrugged. At this time, another three marauders walked out of three other barracks with tech labs, grouping with Mike. The group started walking down to the main square of ponyville just to chill out, but before they even walked half the path, they could feel another earthquake, and saw Rainbow Dash flying into the air. "Stampede!" Rainbow Dash screamed as loud as she could. "First round's on me!" A marauder yelled as Mike and the four marauders ran to intercept the stampede. Once they arrived to the designated path, they stood their ground, with Mike at the center and two marauders on each side. There they stood as the stampade drew close, like an old western film except with 26th century tech. "Times a' wasting..." A marauder in its characteristic ghetto brudda voice sighed as he checked his grenade launcher, while the other began loading, and Mike checked his rifle. But as the horde drew closer and closer, they notices their foes were far smaller than originally expected. They weren't cows either. They were... Bunnies. Mike and his four marauders bursted out laughing at the incoming horde, with their laughter intensifying past untold levels once they saw ponies panicking and falling unconscious on the ground. A poor marauder couldn't hold it and fell to the floor laughing, smashing his grenade launchers to the floor desperately gasping for air. "Oh man... Say, that's still a stampede. You all got concussive shells?" Mike questioned. "Believe it!" "Alright men..." Mike said as he rose his gun at the incoming bunnies. "Wait, I wonder..." "Yeah?" "What if we just stand in their way so that they cannot advance? We'd stop them without even trying." "Imagine the face on the ponies, hah!" They all stood in place as the bunnies advanced yet impacted against their steel feet, piling up in front of them with no way to advance. This kept continuing until the stampede reached a stop. "Ooohh..." Mike taunted as he and his four marauders looked at the bunnies. "Looks like the bunnies didn't have their rabbit feet with them..." The bunnies, frightened past their limit, piled up and climbed on top of each other, with Mike and the marauders just staring in confusion as the pile of bunnies reached twice their height. The mass of bunnies began shaping forms until, much to the Terrans' surprise, formed up with their anatomy. Two arms, two legs, a torso and a head, all made up entirely of bunnies. "What." The marauders and Mike said in unison as they stared high above them to the tall creature made up entirely of woodland creatures. "Let's do this." A marauder said as he aimed its grenade launcher at it. "It's go time." "Why not." "It's about to get heavy!" "Up an' at 'em, boys!" Mike screamed. The firefight between the giant bunny and the Terrans had begun as bullets and concussive shells flew left and right, with the bunny grabbing a marauder and throwing it into a house with tremendous force. Twilight hummed a tune to herself, strolling around Ponyville, but her expression changed to fright as she gasped, seeing Mike, three marauders, and several ponies knocked out on the floor. "I'm in a world of hurt!" A marauder yelled, stuck inside a building, before it crumbled on top of him. "Damn I was good..." "...I don't get it." Twilight said. "T-Twilight..." Mike could barely muster the strength to speak as he crawled up to Twilight. "My time... Is short. I will no longer be among your kind in moments, for my death draws near... The bunnies, monsters from the north, they are unlike anything I've ever seen in my life... Zerg, dark creatures from the edges of known space, decided to devour every sentient being, even they do not compare to the horrors I have witnessed here..." He violently coughed and tried regaining his strength. "You hold the keys, you can find out who unleashed these beasts upon us... Twilight... You must... Avenge me..." He barely finished speaking before falling unconscious again. "Applejack..." Twilight sighed, shrugging off Mike's desperately dramatic attempts at final words as just an annoyance. Another few hours later... "Keep down, make as little noise as possible..." Mike ordered as he and 200 marauders spread over the entirety of the Sweet Apple Acres, marching forwards towards the barn. "This place's scary, man... Got a bad feeling 'bout this..." A marauder stated. "It's what we have to do. If we don't... Those monsters would return..." Another marauder explained. "Oh God..." "Trees. Trees everywhere. Where are we going anyways?" "Scouting." Mike explained. "I hold no information of this place, that's why we're spread apart. We need to scout, and find the source of this problem... First we--" He was cut short by an apple falling on top of him. He didn't relize it was an apple, and thought it was a dark creature tactically throwing himself on top of him for a gruesome fate. "GET IT OFF ME!! GET IT OFF ME!!" He screamed as he shook himself, shooting blindly in the air. The stray bullets impact on several trees, which made them shake and, in turn, release the apples on unsuspecting marauders. Concussive shells flew left and right as they reacted the same way as Mike, with their shells striking more trees, releasing more apples, impacting on more marauders, and so on creating a chain reaction that engulfed literally every single Terran in the force. "Applejack? Applejack!" Twilight called. "Huh...?" Applejack answered as she woke up after passing out due to the amount of apples left to buck. "Oh, good, you're okay. Now Applejack, I completely respect the Apple family ways. You're always there to help any pony in need, so maybe you can put a little of your stubborn pride aside and allow your friends to help you." "Okay, Twilight..." "I am not taking "no" for an answer--what?" "Yes, Twilight. Yes, please. I could really use your help." Twilight chuckled, and then sighed of relief. But as Applejack stood up and they both turned to the unbucked trees in the Sweet Apple Acres, their face changed from relief, to utter shock. All the trees had their apples released to the ground, even though minutes ago they were intact. They had no explanation whatsoever to what just happened, but before they could even mutter gibberish to themselves trying to come up with an explanation, they saw Mike and a few marauders coming out of the woods. All with visors broken, paint scraped off, parts cracked and almost outright broken, and fury in their eyes. "Applejack!" Mike yelled as he walked closer while the rest stood their ground. "You let those bunnies loose on Ponyville, right?!" "...I what?" "Mike, wait!" Twilight tried grabbing his attention. "What!?" "She didn't sleep in days, it was an accident!!" "What." "An accident! She scared the bunnies off because she was too tired to focus properly. Fluttershy herself said so." Mike just stood there with a blank expression, trying to process the information he was provided. "So... It was all an accident?" He asked. "Yes." "Because she didn't sleep?" "Yes." "And she didn't sleep because...?" "She had to get all the apples from those trees." She said as she pointed to the woods he the marauders came out of. "...Those things were apples?!-- Ahem... Well, I made the job easier." He tried making the others think it was his plan all along. Obviously, the others already knew everything. "So... Uhhh... Go to sleep maybe?" "Yeah, sure..." Applejack mindlessly said before passing out again right were she stood. "Uhhh Mike?" Twilight called. "Yeah?" "Mind helping us a bit in collecting the apples?" "Yeah, sure." He complied, seeing as if he refused he'd just sit around in his base doing nothing. Time later, Marauders, Mike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were gathering the apples left on the floor with several wagons. The marauders obviously struggling and every once in a while accidentally shooting their grenade launchers due to, obviously, their power armor hands being replaced by the grenade launchers themselves. "Yeah, I've got all five fingers! Three on this hand, two on the other one!" A marauder yelled in annoyance following a conversation between him and a few other marauders. "Dear Princess Celestia, My friend Applejack is the best friend a pony could ever have, and she's always there to help any pony. The only trouble is, when she needs help, she finds it hard to accept it, so while friendship is about giving of ourselves to friends, it's also about accepting what our friends have to offer. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. P.S. Mike might be dumb and scary, but he's useful if you play your cards right. Emphasis on scary. I mean, how can he create an army out of random mineral chunks and gas canisters while..." Twilight kept throwing gibberish at the letter as she wrote it. Hell knows if Celestia would understand half of it.