Scootaloo felt the familiar sensation of her stomach leaping as she slowly tipped forward, off the edge of the CMC command tower. Oh, how she loved that feeling. Everything was relatively calm at first, so she closed her eyes. Then as she felt gravity tug her forward, everything became extremely windy. Her mane and tail whipped about behind her, dragged by the strong gusts of acceleration.
"HahaHA!!" she laughed, although it was a slight difficulty to do so due to the wind getting in her mouth and puffing out her cheeks.
Applebloom was one hell of a trustworthy engineer and designer- till this day, those wheels on the scooter still hadn't worn down a bit- as expected though, seeing as how closely she guards her secret as to how she enhances solid matter to make them stronger and denser.
Here was this part again- there was a little bump here on this part of the building, for what reason Scootaloo didn't ask Applebloom. It wasn't like she wanted her to fix this part anyway- the air time she could get from it was most enjoyable. However may end some-what painfully at times.
Scootaloo leaned back, her wings stretching out a slight bit to slow her down and steady her trajectory. The front wheels went off the ground slightly, but not so much that the bottom would catch the wind and get completely thrown up in the air.
"Steady now..." she muttered, controlling the scooter and keeping her eyes on the bump.
The front wheels sailed clean over the bump, and then a split second later the back wheels hit it. Abruptly all wheels left the tower surface, and Scootaloo was sailing through the air hundreds of kilometers above Haven Central. Momentum was sending her spinning back- but she didn't mind. She let go of the scooter, making a full three-sixty backward flip before coming back to the correct orientation again, still free falling with wheels away from the surface.
"Wooohooo! HAHAHAAAA!!" she screamed, a wide grin on her face as the wheels touched down again, an array or sparks instantly flying out from the friction.
Suddenly she felt oddly vulnerable, and that wasn't exactly comfortable. If she trips...
"AL- forgot to put protective gear on. Little help?" she asked, struggling to speak over the howling wind.
"Certainly." AL said through a speaker in the scooter, and the handles unfolded into halves. From inside the halves Nano Fibre gloves with metal platings folded themselves over her front hooves, and the handles closed together again. The area on the board where her back hooves were slid open, and boots clamped over her hooves. The board closed back together, once again an innocent looking every-day scooter.
"Er... Elbow and knees?" Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.
"You'll have to put those on yourself." AL said.
"Cool. Gimme some airtime." Scootaloo said, lowering her center of gravity.
"Three... Two... One... Boosting."
Small thrusters under the scooter flared up, sending Scootaloo back into the air. A slot in the central support opened up, ejecting two sets of protective guards. One for the knees, another for the elbows. She let go of the scooter and kicked off it, now falling with it however two meters above it.
She moved her elbows forward, and the devices targeted them and clamped on. A few clicks and they locked into place, nano fibre protection with small steel plates on the outside.
Next where the knees. Because of the anatomy of the back legs of a pony, these were much harder to be fitted on because of the double curve.
A knob popped out of the front of her boots, and shot a targeting laser at her knee. The knee guards locked on, and adjusted their flight paths.
With a light click they flew into place, the sides folding in and clamping onto the sides of her legs. Pieces started unfolding off of it, closing around that back and eventually shielding both sides in nano fibre fabric and steel platings.
"Guards are in place." AL said.
"Got em." Scootaloo replied, streamlining her body and diving down for her scooter.
She grabbed onto the handle, and swung down onto it. LED indicators on the scooter flared up briefly, acknowledging her presence.
She leaned back, bringing the scooter in an arc as to become parallel with the tower surface. The wheels touched down once again, sparking and glowing a light orange.
From then on it was just a continuous slope until the ground. That isn't fun.
She looked up at the opposing building, a business block. Maybe she could have some fun trying to get to that roof without getting killed.
*
Bluefyre clutched her head, eyes wide and staring at the burning forest floor. Cold sweat trickled down her face and formed droplets on her nose.
"Kill them... Take over! Kill them all..." the ghost fires were saying, echoing voices in her head that were affecting her will.
"What the hell is she doing?" Babs asked, not taking her eyes nor the shotgun's aim off Bluefyre.
"I honestly don't have the slightest clue. Although, I have a vague memory of her... Not much though." Magnum said, and Babs turned her head slightly. "Just shadows that I can't confirm. Seems to be some sort of army training camp... But that's it. I think we were in the same squad together, or something." Magnum narrowed her eyes, trying to catch that memory. But the more she tried, the more she couldn't.
"You two must've come from the same place then. She recognizes you." Babs said, and Bluefyre let out an unwilling roar.
"Get out... Of... My... HEAD!!" she screamed, her spine suddenly arching back and her eyes staring at the sky.
Magnum and Babs's eyes widened as Bluefyre suddenly burst into flames, this time the ghost fires having a greenish aqua quality to them. Her skin and flesh melted away, and her skeleton curled down into a crouched position- nothing more than the pose of an enraged animal. The most terrifying part was, they could tell she was still alive.
Streaks of flames were drifting out of her hollow eye sockets and gaping mouth, and with each breath she took the flames in her mouth would flare out in a small ball of energy.
"What the hell is she..." Babs slowly started backing away.
The creature that was formerly Bluefyre suddenly turned and cast a look at Magnum, and despite its inability to perform expressions because of it being only a burning skeletal structure, it somehow still conveyed the meaning in its look.
Sorry, it said.
Then there was a bright blue flash that lit up the sky, accompanied by a scream; the voice of it horrifyingly familiar to Magnum- then by the time their eyes adjusted again, the creature was gone; and so were the flames. They were left in a quiet forest, burnt out and a spent battleground.
"Phew..." Babs said, finally letting the shotgun drop to her side and slumping onto the ground. "That thing's gonna be in my nightmares for the next year or so." she said, but when Magnum didn't reply; she looked up. "Hey- what's with the look?"
"I..." Magnum shook her head. "I don't know. Never mind. Let's go back-" her left ear twitched, and flicked back. "Wait a se-"
Suddenly several dark shapes leaped out of the woods behind them, and one of them tackled Magnum to the ground; accompanied by a some-what over-joyed cheer.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ALIVE!!" somepony cried, squeezing the living soul out of her. Her wounds felt like they could explode any second.
"Gah- can't- breath-" she managed as the pony gave her a suffocating and potentially deadly hug.
"Huh?" the pony let go slightly. "Oh right- sorry." she quickly tried shuffling off, but before she could there was more excited screaming and two other ponies leaped onto them.
Magnum felt the air leave her lungs, and was temporarily winded.
"Damnit guys! OFF!! She's dying!" the pony struggled, and Magnum felt the weight decrease. She took the opportunity and sucked in a lungful of air, taking in as much oxygen as she possibly could.
The pony turned back to her, which may or may not be a good thing.
"Hey! Is it you?" Magnum felt a sudden slap across her face. "Come on Magnum buddy, tell me it's you!" another slap.
"DAMNIT!!" Magnum yelled, shoving the pony off.
"It's her." Rainbow said, falling over onto the ground. "Looks like her, and has her voice."
Magnum scrambled up and quickly backed away from the group of ponies.
"Freeze, and drop your freakin weapons." Babs said, loading the shotgun with a loud click and pointing it at the group.
"Uh-oh." Rainbow said, raising both hooves above her head.
"...we come in peace?" Octavia tried.
"Drop the shotgun, lady." Daring said, and Babs felt the barrel of a gun press into the back of her head.
"Well ain't this bull crap..." Babs dropped her shotgun onto the floor with a thud and sighed.
"WHAT THE BUCK IS EVEN GOING ON HERE!!??" Magnum yelled, clutching her head and shaking it at all the 'wut' that was going on here.
First a group of ponies she doesn't even know tackles her to the ground and hugs the crap outta her as if she were some long lost family member- and then more decide to show up and everypony is just so casual about having guns pointed at themselves!
"Calm down, Magnum." Rainbow said.
"HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW MY NAME!!??" Magnum yelled, whipping out the pistol and pointing it at Rainbow.
"Uh... We worked together for quite a few years in some random other reality?" Rainbow tried, which made Magnum raise her eyebrow even higher.
"Give me your name." she said, now much more calmer.
"Rainbow Dash. And if this is some sort of joke- it's not funny, yet."
The name did ring a few bells, and a few more came to her head. Dainty, Octavia, Blithy...
"Damnit... I.. I must've known you..." Magnum said, dropping her pistol in the grass and slumping back. She slammed a hoof into the ground, and suddenly started crying. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS CRAP ANYMORE!!"
"Uh... What now...?" Dainty raised an eyebrow.
"Magnum- tell us what happened!" Octavia said quickly, kneeling down and giving her a light pat on the back.
"Sis, you can put your hooves down now." Dainty said.
"Right, right." Rainbow sighed, dropping her arms to her sides.
"I.. I don't remember anything." Magnum said.
The group was silent for a moment.
"What do you mean... You don't remember anything? You don't remember what's making you crack right now, or-" Rainbow started, and Babs cut her off.
"I found her here in the Everfree in real bad shape. See her missing arm and eye? Those were all gone when I found her. I did what I could with the legs, but she's barely walking right now. She seemed to have taken a real good blow to the head too. Figure that's what caused the memory loss." Babs said, and all this time Magnum was staring at the ground in misery.
"Memory loss...?" Rainbow frowned, her heart slowly turning cold. "You mean she doesn't remember us?"
Babs shook her head. "No. And as far as I know, she doesn't remember anything." she said, and cast Magnum a sad gaze.
Rainbow froze, processing the information; then she let out a deep sigh. "At least better than dead, right? We can figure something out. We can recover those memories."
Magnum chuckled sadly. "I can only hope. All of this is driving me insane." she let out a nervous laugh.
"Let's get you outta here." Octavia said, helping her stand. Dainty picked up her pistol and handed it to her.
"I knew the both of you too, huh..." Magnum said weakly.
"Octavia. And that's Dainty." Octavia said as Magnum accepted the gun from the filly.
Magnum shook her head, wiping away a tear. "I'm sorry. Damnit... I'm so sorry."
"It wasn't your fault." Rainbow sighed. Partially she blamed herself for not being able to be there to help- even if it wasn't her fault. Guess that could be a side effect for being so darn loyal. She turned to Babs. "Sorry- can't see in the dark that well. Fascinating how these leaves manage to block out almost all the sunlight. But am I correct in saying you seem... Familiar?"
"Rainbow Dash, was it?" Babs chuckled. "I'm Applebloom's cousin." she narrowed her eyes into a frown. "Although... I can't be quite sure... I seemed to have been living in Manehatten for a lot of my life but- I may have also been here for my entire life..."
"Ah... That's right. Babs Seed. Seen you in Ponyville before, years back. And you have extra memories too?"
"Is that what you call them?" Babs tilted her head to one side. "I thought I was just going crazy."
"Well... If you are going crazy, you're not the only one." Rainbow sighed.
*
"If we're going to strike, now would be a good time." Shining Armor said. "Val is currently occupied with the ATLANTIS battle, and so is her second in command- Eclipse. If we strike now, the science faction would be a headless horse."
"The main question right now is whether or not it'll be worth it." Iris said, talking with the OASIS commanders and captains through a hologram.
"Problem is, we don't have much of a choice." Spitfire sighed. "Val seems to know everything about us. Sooner or later she'll take us out anyway."
"Then we should strike when they a weakest." Shining Armor said. "In which case it's right now."
"I agree. We have a much higher chance of winning if we hit them now." Iris nodded.
Spitfire chewed her lip. This was a big decision- there was no room for error. She paced around the bridge, the other commanders watching her and waiting.
"Fine. But I want the strategy sorted out first before I issue the official order." she said, finally stepping to a stop.
"First off, our operatives are already all over Equestria scouring for more potential allies." Shining Armor said. "Once we bring them in, I estimate we'll have an extra few thousand ponies on our side."
"Still not much." Spitfire said. "Although, I have a plan to change that." she said, smiling.
"And that is...?" Iris raised an eyebrow.
"We need allies in this war... But how come we're only searching for ponies?" she asked rhetorically. "This isn't a fight for the pony race. The science faction has enslaved the whole of Equestria." she grinned. "And I'm sure we aren't the only ones who hate them to the bone."
Iris and Shining Armor looked at each other with raised eyebrows.
"I suppose the plan is already under way?" Shining Armor asked.
"Of course it is." Spitfire said. "I already have Blaze looking for more potential allies in this war. And all is going well so far, according to his reports."
"Another thing to consider is that we have the Wardens on our side." Iris noted. "Six of them, if I am correct."
"Five." Spitfire lowered her eyes. "Nightshade's dead."
That was followed by some shocked silence, only broken by the noises of the busy bridge.
"Five, then." Shining Armor sighed, shaking his head. "More the reason to take them out now. If this goes on, we'll be slowly worn out. We need everyone we can get."
"We'll have the Wardens lead the battle then." Iris said. "Their power will most likely make our troops more confident."
"Right. But what about Rainbow? She's still on her assignment with some other agents to retrieve the intel on the sun." Shining Armor said.
"That'll have to wait." Spitfire sighed. "That intel was originally for us to determine whether or not the war would be worth it- but we don't have much of a choice now."
"But it's still useful intel." Iris noted.
"That's why I'll send Rainbow in to retrieve it when the crap hits the fan- which doesn't seem to be far away now." Spitfire said.
"Back onto our strategy." Shining Armor said. "Our ground troops would get smothered if we don't take down the barricade. It'll also prevent our reinforcements from reaching the ground."
"Then we take it out." Spitfire said. "Magnum and her squad have proven that it's vulnerable. Sadly, they didn't quite make it."
"How do you propose we take out the entire barricade without it falling out of the sky and destroying everything on the ground?" Shining Armor asked.
"Obviously overheating their nuclear generators won't do- but what about keeping their silo gates shut?" Spitfire said.
"Wha..? Oh... Ha, that might actually work." Iris smiled.
"Clever. Manually fire off the missiles while the silo gates are still shut- they'd blow the barricade to pieces. And since the explosions occur underneath the barricade, the force might even be enough to lift the whole damn thing out of the atmosphere and into space, where it will be out of harm's way." Shining Armor grinned. "I guess I finally understand why you're a captain."
"Suppose." Spitfire tilted her head to one side. "Now- we need a team to infiltrate the barricade again. The entire system is linked together, so we take control of one then we control all. It's just one big ship."
"Stealth would be preferable here." Iris rubbed his chin. "We take it out before they notice- prevent them from starting evacuations. That way we'll be taking out a ton of their troops as well- two birds with one stone."
They were silent for a few seconds, considering who should go on this mission. It was quite an important one, after all. Then they all looked up at the same time.
"Neon." they said.
"Warden of light- she can make herself invisible whenever she wants. And she's used to stealth killing anyway, so she doesn't care for guns." Spitfire said.
"Right-" Shining Armor rubbed his hooves together. "Get her a team and send her over. Once the barricade is down, we give the signal for all of Equestria to stand up and fight. I like."
"Next thing... Taking out the COLOSSUS." Iris sighed.
"Now that's what I call a major headache." Spitfire said.
"It would seem everypony's been thinned out a lot..." Shining Armor rubbed his eyes, yawning. "All our Wardens are now assigned to something... Don't have any spares."
"A few well aimed and fully charged shots from the CYCLOPS could punch through its layers and hit the counter-gravity shield." Iris suggested.
"And it will collapse in on itself without the shield holding up its own gravitational pull. It might even drag a few other ships in with it." Spitfire grinned. "Excellent work, Iris."
"Thank you ma'am." Iris tipped his head slightly.
"Put the CYCLOPS at the back, acting as our sniper while the rest of our ships cover him and wait for him to take down the COLOSSUS." Shining Armor nodded.
"As for our ground troops..." Spitfire waved a hoof in the air, and a holographic 3D map appeared. She pointed to what seemed to be a city in the middle of White Tail Woods. It looked like a big metal mountain range, a central building coming out in the middle of the city and pointing straight at the sky. "That's Valhalla, the science faction's headquarters on earth. It's quite a large city, and also quite advanced. That's a key position for our ground troops to attack- once we free them from the underground, that is."
"Taking down the barricade should be a sufficient distraction for the underground guards to be summoned to reinforce Valhalla. After all, that and the COLOSSUS would be the only two main HQs they have left once the barricade is gone." Shining Armor said, nodding. "After that, we can lead the troops out and box Valhalla in- create a blockade. From then on things should be much easier."
"Once Valhalla falls, we can send our troops on a storm across the surface, wipe out anyone left." Iris said.
"About the blockade- they could easily pull the same trick on us if they send reinforcements behind our blockade and put our troops in between." Shining Armor pointed out.
"Then we provide cover from the skies. Make sure nothing gets through and onto the surface once we take over Earth." Spitfire said. "Now, as long as we keep the CYCLOPS in a safe position, their space fleet won't be too much of a problem for us to take on. Major issue here is, how do we defend the CYCLOPS whilst severely out numbered? And by out numbered I mean four of them to one of us."
"Easy. Don't let them hit us- and the element of surprise." Iris said. "Hit and run. Come back, hit them then run again. Draw them into an ambush. Screw with their brains."
Spitfire nodded, a 'not bad' expression on her face. "Could work." she turned to Shining Armor. "Since everypony remembers you as the Captain of the Royal Guards, you should lead the ground assault. Hammer some confidence into them- you'll be good with that. They trust you."
"And do you want me to spread the word too?" Shining Armor asked.
"No. I have somepony else in mind." Spitfire said.
"Rainbow Dash?" Soarin asked.
"You read my mind." Spitfire nodded. "Rainbow and Octavia were the ones who led us to victory the last time. They took down the command center and shut down the barricade- they were the heroes." she smiled. "Ponies trust them. Let the heroes lead us, heroes that have won before. Ponies will think we will win again- and we will."
"She doesn't have any type of broadcasting device- it'll be hard to reach the ponies underground." Iris noted.
"Oh, but Haven does." Spitfire said. "I'll send her away from the mission for now and tell her to go deliver the message once the barricade falls."
"Copy. I'll make sure everything on the CYCLOPS is fully functional." Iris said. "Logging off." his holographic image faded.
Adrenaline pumped through Spitfire's veins, and she grinned with excitement. "Shining Armor! Go get Neon and her team ready. Also prepare to go onto the surface and lead our ground troops. Soarin!"
"Ma'am!" Soarin saluted.
"Make sure our fleet is completely separate from the science faction fleet. Don't make it too obvious though, or they'll tell. You there, officer! Send a message to ATLANTIS and tell them to hold Val and Eclipse there for as long as possible!" Spitfire yelled out the commands excitedly, a small bit of a skip in her steps as she trotted towards the big glass windshields of the OASIS bridge. She stopped, gazing out at that dirt brown planet in front of them. Even in its current state, destroyed and torn, dirty and unclean- it still seemed beautiful to her. It was still majestic. It was still Earth- and it was still home. She grinned, the glimmer of hope that one day they'll all return becoming brighter and brighter.
She lowered her head, and narrowed her eyes.
"And so it begins."