//------------------------------// // New allies // Story: Resistance of steel // by Valsion //------------------------------// Resistance of steel Chapter 3: New allies Russian tundra: It was already nighttime and a snowstorm was raging over the tundra. Still, a lone military jeep was driving through the storm. The man driving the car looked over to the only passenger next to him. The poor woman has just been through a horrible experience, he could not watch any longer, he had to get her out of that facility. He saw that the young, red haired woman was biting her fingernail, a common nervous habit but she already made her finger bleed. "Stop it." He demanded. It was a bumpy ride and he didn't want her to bite her thumb off. "Let me bite... if not, kill me..." was her traumatized response. The poor girls psyche was clearly suffering, still he had to stop her. "Cut it out." He demanded again and this time, he grabbed her hand to pull it away. A sharp pain went through the drivers hand, the girl has bitten him instead. Blood flowed out of the wound but he could not be mad at her. Images from all the cruel experiments went through his head and he knew, this girl needed help, not scolding. "They've done such a horrible thing." He mused with his hand still in the girls mouth. They then went over the hill and saw their destination. "Look, it's a mountainous area, we can go back!" The girl loosened her bite on his hand to look up. "We can go back home!" Said the man, as images of home went through the girls mind. The escape route was directly in front of them, it would not take much longer. In his joy, the driver did not see that something was approaching. The two of them had been followed by a military helicopter, which now fired a missile at them. It impacted on the ground, directly in front of them and the car was pushed over by the force of the explosion, landing upside down. The girl was thrown out of the car while the driver was not so lucky and was crushed underneath. Only his hand was sticking out at the side, holding a CD. Fortunately, the girl was unharmed, she stood up and went over to the wreaked car. She did not have to check the pulse to know that the driver was dead, instead she picked up the CD from his hands. Looking at the CD inside its case, she was oblivious to the attack helicopter approaching from behind, until it's opened fire. The woman was not hit but the bullets hit the jeep, causing the wreckage to explode and throw the red head into the snow. Paralyzed by fear, she could not bring herself to do anything as the helicopter pilot continued to shoot. What he wasn't aware of was, that he himself was in the crosshairs. An alarm signal went off inside the helicopters cockpit and the pilot turned the machine around to face the attacker, as a second warning signal flared up. "A pincer attack?" From one side, a giant knife was flying through the air, impacting on the side, while what looked like a fist made of green crystals was hitting him from behind, causing the helicopter to stagger. The red headed woman watched in awe, as a gray colored, bipedal mech approached from behind and grabbed the helicopter, while the pilot was struggling to get control back. The robot forced the helicopter back, before throwing it to the ground, where it exploded. The woman knew exactly, what this machine was. "Arm.... slave..." From other nearby areas, the sound of fighting could be heard. The Armslave that just saved the girl had no interest in those battles however. The pilot had two missions now, rescue that girl, along with the CD and look out for wherever that fist came from. There was no unit in their organization that could fire such projectiles. "Sousuke here, cover me while I secure the target." "Understood, be careful. We do not know anything about the unit or it's capabilities." Came the radio response of one of Sousukes team members, Melissa Mao. She went over to him with her own Armslave, looking out for the unknown unit. From the nearby woods, the two pilots of a purple robot were watching the scene. At first they hid from the sight of the vehicle, as it was suddenly attacked. Shocked at the sudden violence, they were paralyzed for a short time. Still, they had to save that girl, so Pinkie Pie activated one of the Coustwells weapons. Orgone energy was pumped directly into the fist and crystalized, before they hurled it at the strange, flying machine. Applejack and Pinkie were surprised, that somepony else seemed to have the same idea. As the knife hit the helicopter, they let the Coustwell duck down again, before anyone could see them. The emerging robot, looked a lot like Coustwell, only that it was steel grey and more simplistic in design. It also was a lot smaller than the Coustwell. While they had to duck down, this new robot could easily stand behind the treelines. It was impressive, to say the least, to see this unit wrestle the flying machine and toss it to the ground. "Well, looks like someone was already here for the rescue, I just hope that creature will be fine now." Said Applejack while looking at the woman, kneeling in the snow from behind the treelines. "Why don't we say hi to them AJ? If they are here to help this one, they must be nice. Maybe we can find some new friends, that would be wonderful." Applejack rolled her eyes in response. Even though Pinkie was shocked at the sudden outburst of violence, she recovered very quickly. "Before we make any new friends, we need to look for our old friends. Besides, nopony can guarantee us, that they will also be nice to us. They seem to be guard, military types. An unknown robot could easily spook them into attacking. Let's just wait here until they leave." Sure enough, one of them left his robot, having it kneel down near the woman. The soldier approached her and it looked like the two of them were talking, at least the woman was. At first everything looked fine, until the pilot suddenly stabbed something into the womans neck. Applejack and Pinkie Pie did not know, that it was a simple sedative, so they thought that the pilot of the grey robot was attacking her. "AJ, this other guy stabbed her!" Yelled Pinkie Pie. Applejack meanwhile, had a grim look on her face. "Attacking innocent.... whatever they are called huh? I'm gonna teach them some manners." While the attacker carried the body towards his own robot under the watchful eye of his teammate, the purple giant rose from the trees and jumped into position. "Whoa there, what do you think you're doing?" Cried Applejack angrily, taking up a battle pose with the Coustwell, just as the attacking pilot reached his robot. The other machine immediately moved in between them, pointing its weapon at the Coustwell. A static sound echoed through the cockpit. "Halt, who are you?" It was, without mistake, the voice of a woman in the other robot. "Mah name is Applejack, I can not let you just go on and hurt others. Ah thought you were going to save her but it looks like you are just like those other villains." She and Pinkie could hear a groan coming from the speakers. "That's right, you just rescued her so you could stab her yourself." Added Pinkie Pie. "Wow, you really don't know anything and still leap into battle. That girl isn't hurt, just sedated and we were going take her to a safe place. But the more important question is...." Without further warning she shot forward and drew a knife, holding the tip directly in front of the Coustwells chest. Due to the size difference, she had to hold the blade very high but it still caught the two ponies off guard. "Who are you, what is your mission and who do you work for?" Both mares were unsure what to do. If they lied, they could be caught up in a battle but if they told them the truth, it could endanger her friends. "We are Applejack and Pinkie Pie, our mission has nothing to do with you and will not cause you any damage. Who we work for is a secret but nothing that should concern you." Aside from her names that did not give them any information but it was still the truth. Melissa Mao cocked her eyebrow. Applejack and Pinkie Pie? Those have to be the weirdest callsigns she has ever heard. Still, despite the complete lack of information, she did not have the feeling that she has been lied to. It was a strange feeling. All her military instincts told her not to be so trusting, espeacially concerning strangers but there was just something about this one that made her feel like she said nothing but the truth. Still, she was a professional soldier and she would not fall for any traps. "And if you lied, you could give any enemy groups information. No chance, you will go with us. Surrender and you won't be harmed." "Just a moment." Applejack cut the communication channel and turned to Pinkie. "Alright, we have to decide quickly or else she'll get suspicious. If we surrender, we can try to explain our situation but there is also the chance they will steal the Coustwell." Pinkie gave her friend a reassuring smile. "Oh, I have the feeling they are good people, let's go with them." During her long friendship, Applejack learned to trust Pinkies instincts. She reopened the communication channel. "We will go with you. But one thing is clear. We will not abandon our previous mission." It could be difficult but if they are really as good as Pinkie Pie believes, they won't harm them. "Alright, fair enough. If your mission really poses no threat to us, that shouldn't be a problem." A third robot now emerged from the forest. "Alright, then let's take in these lovely ladies for a little chat." Together they made their way towards the extraction point. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash scanned the area as they flew through the sky. When they arrived, they started out in a mountainous area, surrounded by forests. Not too much out of the ordinary but one thing really stuck with them. Yesterday they discovered an area, that looked like something devastating happened there some time ago. A large, circular patch of land looked as if a giant fireball landed there, completely scorching a circular area. Rainbow Dash noticed that there were wreckages of other robots on the ground but she did not say anything about it. Fluttershy has closed her eyes, not wanting to think about the poor, woodland creatures that might have gotten hurt and those news would not have helped. They have discovered tracks, leading from the point of the catastrophe. Whatever caused these tracks, it was not far away. They followed the tracks for a while, as they lead them to a desert. Both of them flew for a while, until they finally saw what caused the tracks. It looked almost like a huge ship, made entirely of metal. Despite the fact that there was now water around, it sailed over the sand almost as if it was in water. "R-Rainbow, who are they?" "I dunno but let's see who they are, maybe they have seen the others." While approaching them, Rainbow Dash kept the weapons low, so they would not seem hostile to the crew of the ship. A hatch opened and two figures came out of the metal ship. They were about as tall as the Bellzelute, one with a white and red paintjob and what appeared to be folded wings on it's back, the other mostly dark green, with a huge barrel attached to one arm. As they got closer, Fluttershy and Rainbow stopped and held up one hand, gesturing them to stop. The loudspeaker inside of their cockpit crackled to life, as the pilots of the other robots started to talk. "Halt, who are you two and what do you want?" Said one of them, causing Fluttershy to sink into her seat. Rainbow Dash frowned at the rude greeting but decided to play civil for now. "This is the Bellzelute, I am Rainbow Dash and my co-pilot is Fluttershy. We are looking for some friends of ours and wondered, if you have seen them." Laughter filled their ears after Rainbow Dash introduced them. The cyan pegasus got angry at the other pilots. "What's so funny?" She demanded, as the others slowly calmed down. "That are your callsigns? Seriously? I have never heard a dumber name than that." The green visor of the Bellzelute flashed up and it took a more aggressive position under the control of the furious pegasus. "How about you come out of there and say that to my face?" The other two also got into a combat position as they heard the threat. "Slow there, you are alone and we are also backed by the Freeden back there." A metallic thumb pointed at the ship behind them. This however did not impress Rainbow Dash. "Oh yeah, I bet I can take all of you on without scratching the paintjob." Fluttershy was practically on the bottom of the cockpit by now, shaking slightly. "Please Rainbow, let's just leave, we don't need to fight." Another voice linked itself into their conversation. "I agree. My name is Jamil Neate, captain of the Freeden. I apologize for the rudeness of your welcome but I have to insist, that you either leave or lower your weapons." Fluttershy was glad that the captain of that ship also wanted to avoid an unnecessary fight, so she looked pleadingly at her friend. "Alright, talking to the captain himself is way better than to waste time with the small fry anyway." What she could not see was the glare both mercenaries shot her, as she flew past them towards the open hatch. Inside of the hangar bay, the two of them were led towards a position, where they could park the Bellzelute. Fluttershy was curious but also a little scared at the strange creatures. They reminded her a little of monkeys but they only had hair on their heads. One of them, wearing a blue uniform and sunglasses, arrived in the hangar and stood on a gangway in front of the Bellzelute. "Alright, please come out of your robot now. I would really prefer if we could talk to each other face to face." Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy knew, that this would happen now but they hoped for the best. "Alright then but one thing. What you see might surprise you." The other two pilots have also arrived in the meantime and already opened their cockpits, ready to face that cocky woman. On the ground, a young but masterful mechanic studied the Bellzelute. This kind of mech was completely new to him, he would definately take the time to study it. In secret if necessary . The cockpit opened and slowly, the two mares emerged from it. All of the present humans gasped as they saw two small horses emerge from the mech. They were even more shocked at the fact, that they had such a strange color scheme and seemed to have wings on their backs. Were those really the pilots or was this some sort of prank. A blonde woman entered and immediately squee'd as she saw them. "Awww... they are so adorable!" The captain groaned a little at Toniya's attitude but his mind quickly went back to the bizarre picture before him. Two small, colorful, winged horses were getting out of the cockpit. Their names were Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and they piloted a... actually, he did not know what kind of robot this was. His first guess was, that those horses were aliens, therefor possessing alien technology. Witz Su, a man with short, blonde hair and pilot of the Gundam Airmaster, gaped in disbelief at the picture before him. The cocky chick that was the main pilot of the unknown unit was not a woman but a talking animal? At this exact moment he decided, he did not get paid enough to deal with this kind of crazy stuff. Roybea Roy, who piloted the green Leopard Gundam, was also taken aback. For him, it had another reason though. When the quieter one, Fluttershy, spoke through the comm channel, he found that she sounded cute and wanted to try his luck with her. Now that she turned out to be a creature of mythology, these plans flew straight out of the window. "Well, so much for a cute lady but one thing is for sure. Between this and the Gundam we picked up, things are going to get much more interesting. Maybe I'll stick around." He said to himself. In another part of the ship, a sleeping girl felt something strange. Two sources of energy entering the ship. One felt like an unbreaking shield, protecting all those it holds dear. The other felt like a warm and gentle breeze, wiping away pain. Tiffa Adil's breath became more relaxed and her heartbeat more steady as she was calmed by these two beings. Teletha Testerossa, captain of the Mithril vessel TDD-1, better known as Tuatha de Danaan, was sitting across two ponies. When the Urzu team brought in the unknown mech, they were prepared for many things, not for colorful horses from another dimension to be the pilots. Especially memorable was Sousuke Sagara's reaction to seeing them. He pulled the alarm and forced her to the ground, with a piece of his vest he ripped off as mouth cover, since he believed them to be hallucinations, caused by nerve gas. Even more memorable was the attitude of the pink one. Applejack has confirmed that Pinkie Pie was indeed an adult but she still acted like an eight year old on too much sugar. Both of them explained their mission and where they came from. Most of the stuff that didn't concern their mechs sounded like the script of a cartoon show for little girls but Kalinin seemed to be strangely captivated by their stories, often asking for details that were not even that important. "Very well then, you are currently searching for your friends and wish to get the princess to a safe place?" Applejack and Pinkie Pie nodded in agreemend. "Sadly this world is not as peaceful as you hoped it to be. There are a lot of conflicts going on, especially in Japan. With the Britannians keeping hold on half the island, constant battles between them, the rebel forces and the photon power labs are daily routine." She explained. As far as she heard, war was something they were not accustomed to. Applejack was a little confused. Teletha has mentioned the Britannian Empire before but they still didn't really know who they were. "You mentioned them before, who are the Britannians?" From what she heard, they have taken over an island nation, at least half of it. From that first impression, they sounded like some sort of evil empire. Teletha took a deep breath and began to explain. "A few years ago, a terrible war raged on. The space colonies, that humanity used as a countermeasure against overpopulation, declared themselves independent from earth and also declared war on it. In the final days of the independence war, the colony leaders decided to use empty colonies as giant bombs against earth, dropping them down like meteors." Applejack was shocked and even Pinkie Pie lost her happy glow. They had already heard how big colonies were supposed to be, they could not even imagine how anyone could think about using them like that. "But, wouldn't that have destroyed the entire planet? The planet they were born on?" How could anyone destroy their place of origin like that? "Luckily, the earth federation developed a new weapon that could stop them. The Gundams, mobile weapons not unlike your Coustwell or the Armor Slaves we use. They were equipped with extremely powerful cannons, that could destroy these colonies. Most of them were destroyed, few managed to break through and devastate central Asia." She knew too well of the damage. In Russia, people even decided to move their population into domed cities, so that nature could recover more easily. "Afterwards, the Britannian Empire became active. They used the anger against the colonies, which were still recovering, as well as the help of an organization called OZ, to take hold of the colonies under their brutal dictatorship." It was easy, using hatred and betrayal as weapons. All you needed was the right target and everyone would support you. "They did not stop there though. With the resources gained from the colonies, the Britannian Empire has conquered many countries, Japan being the latest. They are ruthless, taking away the name of the country and it's citizens, reducing them to second-class citizens and taking away their rights." Pinkie at this point, started to cry. "Why? Why do they have to be so mean? Isn't it a lot better to treat others nicely and befriend them instead of doing something so cruel?" She wailed. Applejack put her hoof around her friends shoulder and comforted her. She too could not comprehend such cruelty. Not even Nightmare Moon seemed to be that bad in comparison. "Well, the rebels seemed to get a new leader though. He calls himself Zero, we have no information about him other than his codename and mask but we do know that he is a tactical genius. Maybe we can use the next mission to try and contact him." She said, before clasping her hand over her mouth. She was such a fool, making an amateurs mistake and revealing secret information. "What mission? Can we help?" Asked Applejack, while Pinkie Pie seemed to have calmed down. Teletha took a deep breath. Maybe she could remedy this, make them an offer. "Sorry, I already said too much but I have thought of something. Maybe we can help each other. If you work with us and lend us the Coustwell's power, we will use our intelligence network to look for your friends. You have already given us the description of their robots, so we should be able to pick something up." The two mares huddled together and talked about the offer. If they agreed, they could be pulled into another conflict but the world they landed in seemed huge and dangerous, so a few allies would be nice and Teletha and Mitril seemed to be trustworthy. "Alright sugarcube, we'll help you. But unfortunately, as soon as we get the princess to a safe place, we will have to leave." Teletha smiled and clapped her hands together happily. "I am glad to hear this. Maybe you even meet up with your friends on the way. Excuse me now please, I will have to brief Sagara and Mao about their mission, you will accompany Kurtz. Kalinin here will give you the details." The young captain and the mares exchanged their farewells for now, including an unexpected hug from Pinkie Pie, before they went on their ways. While they were on their way to see this client of theirs, Applejack and Pinkie Pie have taken to sharing some stories with Kalinin. The two mares liked him immediately, since he had something grandfatherly about him, reminding them of their families back home. When they heard that he once saved the life of that one pilot, who thought they were hallucinations, they felt sad for the boy, having to go through that at such a young age. Pinkie decided, that this Sousuke needed a hug, unfortunately, they would not meet him for quite some time, as he and Mao had their own mission. Finally, they arrived at the briefing room, in which their client waited with Kurtz. The sniper, that came from a country called Germany, was supposed to be their teammate. "Here we are, my client and Kurtz are both expert snipers, which will correspond well with your Coustwell's close combat specialization." When he opened the door, Kurtz and the client were already talking to each other. "Wow, I can't believe we're actually gonna help out the black southern cross." Kurtz was smitten by the fact, that he would be working together with a sniping legend. The client, Gain Bijou, was considered one of the best snipers in the entire world. Everyone knew him best under the codename: "Black Southern Cross", named after a special maneuver he came up with. "I heard you are also pretty good Kurtz Weber, best sniper in Mithril." The blonde German blushed at the praise he received, when the door opened, revealing Kalinin and the two ponies. While Kurtz saluted before his superior, Gain stared in awe at the two miniature horses. "W-what are they? They kinda look like horses but why are they painted like that?" He stuttered. Kurtz has not yet told him about the passengers they picked up from the last mission, knowing exactly that Gain would never, ever believed him if he didn't see them himself. "Well Mr. Bijou, we have found them during our last mission and they followed us home, so we decided to keep them." He joked. Slowly, Gain approached them, not taking his eyes of them for a second, until the pink one jumped right in front of him. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, I heard you are a friend of Kal here, so I bet you are really nice because Kal is really nice too, so I am very glad to meet you. Your friend here also asked us to help you out with... we don't know yet but we agreed to help you with whatever." She said quickly, while shaking Gain's hand so hard, he thought it would fall off at any moment. Applejack came next and gently pushed Pinkie aside. "My name is Applejack, it's a pleasure to meet you. Like my friend here said, Mithril asked us to help you out in exchange for helping us find our friends. I'm sure we can get along well." She too shook his hand, much more gentle than Pinkie. They were real, those ponies were really real. That was the only thing Gain could think of right now but were they serious, that they would be his teammates? He gave Kalinin a questioning glance, while Kurtz tried his best not to laugh at the nickname Pinkie just gave him. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I don't really think those two have what it takes to be soldiers. Where do they even come from? Why are there talking horses?" He demanded. Kalinin took a deep breath. "Apparently, they come from another world and were sent here by their ruler, to get said rulers sister to a safe place. They were separated from their friends at their arrival and are now on the lookout. During the last mission, we have found them and they agreed to come along. Also, while they have no live experience yet, their mission is to escort you, not to engage in direct combat, so they should be fine." Applejack looked over to Pinkie, who seemed to feel insulted by Gain but AJ had to agree. Neither of them are soldiers or even want to be soldiers, they should stay out of fights if they are not absolutely necessary. She just hoped this escort would go smoothly. Kalinin meanwhile addressed them again. "Applejack, Pinkie, you and sergeant Weber will escort Gain Bijou to siberia, where you will assist him with the Exodus." Gain took over the explanation. "Due to the colony drop, large parts of the asian and east european environment have been heavily damaged and the people decided to move into large, domes cities to let the land heal. However, we believe that it has healed enough, to allow the people of our target city to return to their country of origin, japan. Exodus however is outlawed by the Siberian Railway corporation, which controls most of the cities and London IMA, which makes it more difficult. You only have to get me there, no further assistance is required and you could just stay inside the hangar, until we are close enough to the ocean again, to get you back to the Tuatha De Danaan." It did not sound so bad. Just bring Gain to that city and he will help them return, then Mithril would surely have info about their friends. If they are really lucky, they might even meet them again during the trip. "Alright then, mission accepted." Responded AJ. "Okie, dokie lokie, leave everything to us." Added Pinkie Pie. While Gain was still weirded out by the idea, that talking horses were going to help him, he was still grateful. "Alright, I heard they will just drop off two more agents on Japan, before getting us to the indian coast. Since the Britannians and their partners of OZ have a very tight security around the sea, we will have to go through the wasteland. There will be enough possibilities for us to refuel and rest though." "Very well then, prepare for the mission. In two days, around 0600 we will drop off sergeant Sagara and Mao, then we will head for India. You are dismissed for now." Said Kalinin and left the room, while Kurtz still saluted. "Sir, yes sir!" After Kalinin was gone, Kurtz relaxed his pose. "Alright, looks like a road trip ahead of us, this is going to be fun." Pinkie Pie went over to Kurtz, a huge grin on her face. "This is gonna be super, like hiking. Only that we have giant robots and the route is kinda long but still, we can camp and roast marshmallows and sing around the campfire." Pinkie already liked Kurtz and the feeling was mutual, as he petted her on the head. "I can already tell, you and me are gonna be good friends." Applejack and Gain just sighed and shook their heads at their partner's antics.