//------------------------------//
// The three snipers 
// Story: Resistance of steel 
// by Valsion 
//------------------------------//


Resistance of steel

Chapter 6: The three snipers




The three robots were now on their way, heading for Russia. Mythril had their route picked out already, making sure they would go through areas that were mostly devoid of large population centers and frequently pass by an allied outpost to refuel. The only difficulty was the Coustwell, since noone at Mythril knew what kind of power it ran on. Even Applejack and Pinkie had only limited knowledge. They knew what it ran on and that they would not face any trouble but they had no idea how exactly the orgone energy worked.

Back in the Tuatha de Danaan, the engineers of Mythril looked at the green crystals and found out two things in the limited time they had. First was the fact that those crystals produces and absorbed energy, when they absorb enough they can self replicate. From their viewpoint they could be the ultimate source of energy. For now they did not absorb or produce much, letting the energy absorb into the machine instead of the crystals, powering it in the process. 

Applejack and Pinkie could also raise the energy output and have the crystals grow in a specific way if they wanted to, building up one of the Coustwell's attack systems. Both ponies were really stumped at their own knowledge. Applejack in particular never had any interest in complicated machines, especially considering she preferred to do work by hoof but now she was piloting a machine so advanced, not even the brightest minds in Equestria could begin to understand it. And on top of it, she automatically knew how it was controlled.

The walk along the coastline was mostly peaceful, only having to go further in sometimes to avoid coastal cities. In the outposts, Applejack and Pinkie only got out briefly, since they were declared top secret. It was especially hard on Pinkie, who was used to constantly move around. Only the commanders of said outposts were aware of their identities, so the ponies usually waited for the repair crews to leave the hangar before coming out. Most of them believed it was a joke when they heard about the Coustwell and were still surprised to see two colorful equines.

Even though they were also very suspicious, the friendly nature of the two quickly won them over and Pinkie was glad to make new friends. Gain Bijou was quiet most of the time, while Pinkie and Kurtz quickly became good friends.

While they waited for the other robots to be maintained, Applejack mused how bittersweet the situation was. It seemed like the struggle between good and evil, which they themselves already experienced, was on a much larger skale here. Still, it felt good that they found some good people already. 

After everything was finished up, they were quickly on their way again, walking through the land. When they were further away from civilization, they would make their machines run, reaching an amazing speed. Even though they were far away from their destination, this way they would not take long to reach it.

Still, Gain Bijou mostly remained a mystery to them. While Kurtz loved to chat with them on the way, Gain mostly kept quiet. Applejack then decided, to ask him about this exodus movement. "So Gain, what exactly are we going to do there in this Siberia?" They already learned, that they would be moving an entire town, something that both mares were very curious about. The very thought seemed impossible but so did many other things they have already witnessed so far.

Gain sat pretty relaxed in the seat of his machine. This type was called, silhouette engine. Learning about all the different types of mech was pretty interesting so far and every type felt very unique to them. From the Knightmare Frames, who propelled themselves on wheels, almost like on roller scates, to the super robots from Photon Power Labs and to the Arm Slaves from Mythril.

"Once we get to our destination, I will  let myself get caught by the Siberian Railway. From the jail, I will make my way towards the museum of Duke Medaiyu. He got some old overmen there, which should still be operational. Those machines are far more powerful than the silhouette engines and can provide cover, while they get the city ready as climax to the festivities." He explained to them.

As he said "festivities" Pinkie Pie was even more hyped about their mission. "A party? We need to make sure that we get there on time, I don't wanna miss it." She said. "I hope they have music and cake and balloons, I have to see it." She was bouncing in her seat, causing the Coustwell to move funny, earning a chuckle from both snipers, while Applejack tried to calm her friend down.

"You will have to wait just outside of the city but don't worry, once it starts you should be able to take a peek at the parade." Gain assured, which seemed to satisfy the pink pony for now.







They walked for a few more hours, as they suddenly heard a series of noises. Kurtz told them to stay put and went ahead to investigate.

Activating his Armslaves electronic cloaking device, he got closer to the source of the noise. He has seen enough battles to know, that there was a fight going on. This was problematic, as they had to get past this point, since two cities were nearby at each side of their route.

Finally he saw what was going on. It was typical to see battles nowadays but this was something different. Several OZ Leo's, greyish-green mobile suits without any really distinguishing features beside the yellow screen instead of a face, were battling and losing to a single figure.

The other mobile suit looked almost like a samurai of old times with a small, round shield attached to one arm, holding a beam glaive with the other. It was mostly white and blue in color, except for the red chestplate. The beams shot by the Leo's were effortlessly dodged, while it cut down the enemies.

It was impressive to watch as one Leo tried to slash it with a beam saber, only for it to jump over it, land on the other side and slice it in half. From his position, Kurtz could see the unknown mobile suit from the back. Slowly he tried to retreat, he thought they could wait it out and then sneak past, once the battle is over. However, one beam from the Leo's was heading straight for him, forcing Kurtz to jump out of the way.

There was an attachment on the right arm of the unknown mobile suit, looking almost like the head of a dragon. It extended towards the Leo's and a bright, hot flame shot out of it, incinerating the rest of the Leo's.

The pilot then turned around and looked at the small crater the armslave caused, when it had to jump to the side. Some dirt and mud stuck to the armor, betraying it's cloaking device. Kurtz muttered some curses, as the head mounted vulcan gun of the mobile suit opened fire. "Gain, AJ, Pinkie, I have been found and need some help here." He shouted over the radio, while ducking for cover.

As he tried to hide back in the forest, he cursed the fact that Melissa wasn't here. Being spotted with the enemy that close was the worst thing that could happen to a sniper. With her close combat expertise, Melissa could take this mobile suit on, or at least distract him long enough to give him a clear shot.

Reactivating the ECS at this point would only waste energy, instead Kurtz backed up and fled into the woods, his pursuer close behind him. The mobile suit was fast, no way to outrun him and if he smells a trap, his companions might be in danger.

Turning and twisting his path, he finally saw two friendly signatures on his radar again, one approaching them from the side, the other a good distance away. "Hey there, I brought a new playmate." He greeted them, as a green fist, seemingly made of crystal flew at the Gundam from behind the trees, while a shot from a sniper rifle came from the other side.

The pilot of that mobile suit had good reflexes, managing to block the orgone fist from one side. The shot from Gain's sniper rifle however, hit him in the back, damaging the hull. Kurtz got a little more distance and then turned around, aiming his own sniper rifle at the Gundam. "Alright buddy, you are surrounded, surrender peacefully and no one has to get hurt." He announced over the speakers.

Wufei cursed inwardly at not seeing the trap from a mile away. "This is it, they must not get a hold of the Gundam." All of the Gundams that are part of operation meteor were fitted with a self destruct mechanism, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. It was top priority, to make sure of that at all costs.

He quickly typed in the neccessary data, to release all locks on the self destruct, as a warning sign flared off. A bright purple beam descended from the sky, impacting on the ground just before the assailing Arms Slave, who jumped back in surprise. Wufei was shaken in his cockpit and hit his head, losing consciousness.

All eyes went towards the sky, where two more machines, similar to the Gundam flew down. One green, a sniper rifle in hand, the other blue with a blade attached to it's arm. "Hey, aren't those the Celestial Being guys?" Asked Kurtz, as he recognized the machines from the news.

The two immediately attacked. The blue one folded out it's blade and charged at Kurtz, while the green one aimed at Coustwell. "AJ, to the right." Said Pinkie, who had an edge no one could possibly predict. Her Pinkie-sense warned her of dangers, like for example the exact moment the enemy sniper would shoot.

Said sniper, known to his organization as Lockon Stratos was silently amazed at the pilots abilities. Several shots were fired already, and not one of them hit yet. The purple robots pilot must have hones his instincts perfectly. "Setsuna, you take care of the purple one, leave the others to me."

"Affirmative." Was the barebone answer of his partner, as they switched targets. Lockon was now in a sniper duel with the Silhouette engine and the Arms Slave, while Setsuna duelled the unknown, purple mech.







Pinkie Pie's sixth sense was working on overload as the quick mech kept slashing at the Coustwell. In another situation or if they were just observers, the two ponies would have been very impressed with the performance. Quick slashes, followed by a turn and another slash, switching between the large blade attached to it's arm to two beam sabers. The robot was almost dancing with them.

While it certainly looked that way, Applejack did not feel like dancing, as she followed Pinkie's instructions how to evade the attacks. The quick movements left no place for any counterattacks, unless they wanted to take a hit. "Duck, hop left, lean back." Even Pinkie seemed a little distressed, bombarded by dozens of twitches.

Their comrades did not fare much better. While they were two against one, the other robot was capable of flight, giving him a much higher ground. For a sniper, that was a great advantage. A bullet flew from the nearby trees, which the green Gundam effortlessly dodged and returned fire. Kurtz Arms Slave lost it's hiding place again and he had to run from the enemy fire again.

These machines were just too powerful and the ponies were just not experienced enough to use the Coustwell's power properly. With the battle going like this, they would soon lose unless... Applejack got an idea. "Kurtz, Gain, let's all group together. Pinkie and I will draw the enemy fire, you two take care of these blockheads. We'll all move towards the green one."

"A risky plan but considering I don't have anything better right now... let's do it." Replied Kurtz. Coustwell, Arms Slave and Gain's Gotchko were running towards each other, from all sides of the sniper Gundam. Lockon Stratos was surprised by this maneuver and he did not know, which one to shoot at. He had to change positions.

While he flew away, Applejack saw her chance. She turned around, blocking another slash from the blue Gundam. "Pinkie, ready the orgone fist, Kurtz, Gain, aim at the sniper and fire when the fist flies." With all the force she could muster, she pushed her assailant away, before doing a quick turn. The Coustwell's fist shot towards the green mech, while Gain and Kurtz shot another volley at him.

The emerald fist was no problem for Lockon but the other snipers managed to foresee his evasion path and while he managed to dodge one of the bullets, the other hit the right leg of his Gundam, severely damaging it. "Setsuna, I got damaged, let's pull back for now." Before his partner could retaliate, they both took towards the sky and flew off. This was very bad, this unknown mech, just like the other one at shatter mountain... this was certainly something VEDA did not warn them about. They would report to the Ptolomeus, this will need to be addressed as soon as possible.







Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Kurtz Weber and Gain Bijou were exhausted from their battle, panting heavily as the adrenaline wore off. "That was scary, I hope we won't have to do this again." Said Pinkie Pie, curling up a little in her seat. Even though the danger went away, she could almost still feel the twitching.

"Sorry girls, this was certainly unexpected." Kurtz felt kinda guilty, nobody prepared the ponies for this, they expected an easy job, escorting Gain to his destination. Then his eyes fell on something different, lying discarded on the battlefield. The Gundam they fought, before the others showed up. "Hey, do you think the pilot is still inside?" 

The others faced the damaged machine. "If he is, we shouldn't just let him lie around. You said earlier, that the next station is nearby?" Asked Applejack.

"That's correct, want to carry him?" Applejack made the Coustwell nod. "Alright, I will just get the pilot outta there, then we can take this baby with us." Kurtz left his M9 and dragged the unconscious pilot out of the cockpit, surprised at how young he seemed to be. Gain held him with the hand of his Gotchko, while Kurtz and the ponies carried the Gundam.

Even though he attacked them earlier, it would just feel bad to leave him behind here and if he came to consciousness again, maybe he could explain why he attacked, and which group he belonged to. Either way, they would have a nice, long talk after this.

The rest of the way was thankfully uneventful, as they managed to get to the seemingly abandoned garage, that would serve as a checkpoint.

Inside, the crew still believed that the message about the ponies must have been a joke, until Applejack and Pinkie hopped out of the cockpits. The confusion was soon dying down, as Pinkie yet again befriended everyone at the base. Their cuteness and friendly attitude, quickly won them over, while Kurtz and Gain brought their guest towards a room they turned into a makeshift prison.

After a while, AJ and Pinkie joined them, as they waited for the pilot to wake up. Slowly, Wufei opened his eyes. He looked at the people in front of him and cursed under his breath. Being taken prisoner was the one thing he was supposed to avoid at all costs. Now the least he could do was keep silent, no matter what. His gaze then fell upon the two ponies and a look of confusion could be seen on his face. 'Did they drug me? What kind of truth serum makes the victim see colorful animals though? I need to be careful, I feel fine but this must be a hallucination.'

"Hold your horses sugarcube." At this point Wufei wanted to smack his own forehead. Hold your horses? Sugarcube? If this was part of his subconsciousness, he would need to meditate for a while. "Ah can assure you, me and the pink one here are real. My name is Applejack, this here is Pinkie Pie. We piloted the Coustwell, the purple mech you saw earlier."

Wufei ignored the two of them however. "What the hell did you guys slip me?" Kurtz laughed a bit, as the pilot was still convinced that everything was just a hallucination. "Nothing buddy, we had a hard time believing it too. Apparently, these two are from a different world." He pointed at the two ponies next to him.

"Don't mind him sugarcube, I wouldn't believe it mahself if one of you guys showed up in Equestria." The orange one said to the German sniper. Even that could still be part of a hallucination however, if said man didn't answer. "Or like Sousuke thought, that your mech deployed some sort of hallucinogen, to mess with out heads."

The pink pony started to laugh at the memory, how said soldier acted. "That was kinda funny, how he crawled around the ground with his shirt up to his nose."

This was the ultimate proof, no one could just pretend to talk to a hallucination like that, not without some minor slip ups. But this opened a whole new line of questions. Why were they here? What's their relationship with Mythril and how will this affect operation Meteor? "And what is your goal here then?"

"We came here because Princess Luna needed a safe place to stay. Some meanies want to hurt her but we heard they are too strong to beat. So we took the Princess, some other mechs and brought them here. But now we are seperated and need to find each other. I hope the others find a lot of new friends too, so we can all celebrate together when we meet up again." Said the pink pony, like a child on a sugar high. Wufei was instantly annoyed by her.

"And you?" Asked Gain Bijou the prisoner. "I think we can safely say, that you are not with Celestial Being. Yet you pilot a Gundam type too." This was the big question. There were enough fighting factions as it is, now it seems another has joined the fray.

Wufei however remained stoic. "My mission remains a secret, nothing you do will ever make me reveal my goals." He was now prepared to face any kind of torture, he only wished he could have done more damage first.

Nothing came however, as the two men and the two ponies got together to whisper about something. Wufei was sadly unable to read lips but obviously the ponies suggested something that did not quiet win over the others. But after a while, it seemed like they got into an agreement. "Say kid," started the blonde man. "we could gather that you are enemies with OZ, is that correct?"

Wufei nodded. After they saw him waste an entire squad of their mobile suits, denying it would be pretty senseless. "You know, we are too enemies of OZ and the Britannian Empire, shouldn't we logically work together then?" 

This suggestion was insane, how could they even think of this? He attacked them just a few hours ago and now they want him to be their ally? He could immediately see what's happening here. By softening up to him, they hope to learn more about his Gundam and his goals. Fair play, this would allow him to turn the entire thing on them. "I see your point... maybe we can form an alliance, as long as we fight the same enemy."

He had to surpress a smirk from forming on his lips, as he purposely made himself sound more naive than he is. Perfect, this desaster might actually turn out in his favor. "You may call me Wufei."

The green haired man with the thick coat stepped behind him and freed him, allowing the boy free movement again. One instinct told him to use this chance to escape but he was outnumbered and did not even know where they are right now, so playing along might be the best option for now.

"You know what this calls for? A PARTY!" Yelled the pink pony, while throwing her hooves up, spreading confetti everywhere. This confused the human onlookers a little. Where did she get that confetti? Kurtz and Gain were pretty sure, that she went into the room with empty hooves.

"That would be lovely Pinkie but I doubt they have any party supplies here." Added Kurtz. Pinkie Pie lost her bounce as she heard this and looked at him sadly. Those were the world famous puppy dog eyes, which turned disciplined men into marmelade. "B-but we can see what we can put together."

Wufei felt a sweatdrop gather on the back of his head as he watched the display. The pink pony cheered, while an exasperated Kurtz went off to ask the workers here about anything they can use for a party. He wondered in what kind of mess he got himself into.







The party turned out better than most were expecting. It turned out they actually did have some cake one of the soldiers smuggled in recently. It was not a big one, pretty basic but Pinkie Pie managed to cut it evenly, so everyone got a piece. They also had some fruit at the outpost, including a few apples that Applejack quickly converted into non alcoholic cider.

The men here had some board games to amuse themselves in their free time, as well as a radio. Pinkie did not seem to have any aditional confetti, so they used some paper and made some out of it. The whole party was functional, if pretty understated.

Wufei never felt more out of place than now. He was surrounded by what should be professional soldiers but now he was the guest of honor for a party, that by all means should only appeal to little children.

What was even worse, they treated him like a friend, despite not even knowing what he would do or if he even was on their side. He noted, that he could probably sneak to his Gundam and kill them all, while they were celebrating. It would be easy, so why not? First Wufei wanted to ask, why did they treat him that way.

He approached one older looking man with brown hair and a beard, the head mechanic in this outpost. "Say, you are a professional soldier, why did you approve of... this?" If this was Mythril, then his respect for the entire organization just fell.

The man just looked at Wufei and smiled. "Why did I approve of this party? The reason is simple, in these troubling times, we need to remind ourselves that life is more than just constant fighting. And besides, the apples for the cider would have gone bad soon and the cake was not part of the rations anyway. On top of that, we are far enough away from civilization, that we needn't worry about being spotted by any enemies."

"Enemies like me?" He asked sarcastically, even though it might arouse suspicion. But still, this mans words rang in his mind. More than constant fighting? Wasn't that the life of a warrior?

A knowing glint was shown in the mans expression. "You know, I have an idea what you're thinking. This must be a trap? Maybe I can turn it on them?" Wufei silently cursed himself for acting on a whim like this. "Don't worry, I will only say one thing. No matter where you look for enemies, you should sometimes ask yourself if you really have to fight. You are not going against the world, not everyone is a potential danger."

The head mechanic looked over to the ponies, playing games with some of the soldiers. "Maybe something like them is what the world needs right now. Someone willing to just reach out a hand in peace, just out of good will. You too should try it." With that, he went off to collect his piece of the cake.

Wufei stood there for a while, simply stunned. He knew he was a possible enemy and won't alert anyone? He blindly trusted him? After a whle of thinking he came to a new conclusion. If these people also fought OZ, maybe he could use them to his advantage, so killing them should not be an option in the near future.

He then decided, that he might as well enjoy himself a little and went over to the bowl with the cider, helping himself to a cup. "Hmmh... this cider is actually very good."