//------------------------------//
// Taking Flare Guns... 
// Story: A Midsummer Night's Dream. 
// by Killbles 
//------------------------------//

	A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Chapter Three: Taking Flare Guns...
 
Island of Manehatten - Equestria
	Time since last incursion: One week.

Rainbow Dash trotted down the street wearily, the Wonderbolt she had been assigned to examining a fallen building ahead of her. She’d barely had any sleep since the monster had attacked and it was starting to tell. Her wings were sluggish, her eyes were held half open and she usual spunky attitude had been curbed somewhat by fatigue. She admired the endurance of the junior Wonderbolt she was with, Wave Chill, if she remembered correctly. He’d had less down time than her and still seemed to be wide awake.
Maybe it was that coffee stuff he kept drinking.
“Alright Rookie, we’ll do another sweep of this block and we’ll head back up to Lucky Seven. I’ll make my report to the boss and hopefully she’ll give us some downtime.” He said, referring to the large dirigible that floated somewhere over them. The city-block sized dirigible was one of the three airships the elite military unit operated out of on a regular basis. Still fairly new to enter service, Lucky Seven had been in Manehatten for scheduled maintenance when the monster had attacked. Although it hadn’t taken part in the defence, the mighty warbarge was now operating as a command centre for military and rescue forces all across the city. “Then, maybe then, we’ll find a nice hot meal, a shower and a rock-hard bunk to sleep on.” Wave Chill added with noticeable relief.
“About time.” Rainbow yawned. She’d been awake for at least the last thirty hours and her lack of sleep was quickly catching up to her. “I don’t know how you’re still standing.”
“Call it a combination of coffee, stupidity and being regularly being woken by a DI at 4 in the morning.” Wave Chill laughed, peering through a shattered shop front. He enjoyed having Rainbow Dash around. Being a civilian, there was a greater degree of casualness he could have than if she were a subordinate or his superior.  “You should see Soarin or Spitfire though, they’re masters of the siesta.”
Rainbow Dash hid another yawn behind her hoof and followed Wave Chill into a half destroyed apartment block. Another team had been in before them and secured the worst of the building but like the rubble-strewn street outside, the building was deserted.
“Creepy.” She noted. The building looked like it hadn’t been occupied for years, not days.
“Yeah, it’s a bit off putting. The worst part is the silence. I spent a few tears a few blocks down from here and I’ll tell you now, silence is not something you find easy in Manehatten.” The dark blue Wonderbolt said, doing a quick sweep of a downstairs apartment.
Rainbow nodded in agreement and shivered, the sound of creaking wood and the occasional trickle of rubble was the only sound besides Wave Chill stomping around. ‘Wait, what’s that?’ She thought, pricking her ears up.
“Hey, stop moving around for a sec, I think I heard something.” She said. Wave Chill complied immediately, straining his own ears to listen.
“Is that… crying?” He asked after a moment’s silence.
“Sounds like it, let’s check it out.” She whispered, missing the amused look that briefly crossed the Wonderbolt’s face. Taking orders from a civilian? That was a something new.
“Please, ladies first.” Wave Chill said, gesturing further into the building.
“With pleasure.” Rainbow Dash purred, her drowsiness washed away by her curiosity. She listened for a moment, deducing the soft sobbing she could hear was coming from an upstairs unit. Nodding with satisfaction, she climbed the rickety looking staircase two steps at a time. “Hello?” She called out. “Anypony here?”
The crying stopped immediately. Rainbow dash darted up another flight of stairs and through an open door she guessed the crying to be coming from only to find her progress blocked by a reasonable pile of debris.
“Well that’s something.” Wave chill muttered from behind Rainbow Dash.
“Hello?” Rainbow Dash called again, clambering up onto the pile and poking her head around the debris. She was rewarded by the sight of a small creamy-yellow filly, probably no older than any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She stared at Rainbow Dash with a pair of wide sea green eyes.
“Wave Chill, there’s a filly trapped behind the debris.” Rainbow Dash explained, clambering back off the pile. “I can’t get to her but if you can lift some of this debris I might be able to reach her.
Wave Chill examined the half collapsed ceiling worriedly. “I don’t know, it might just all come crashing down. Is there a window we can fly in?”
“Doesn’t look like it.” Rainbow reported.
“Guess there’s nothing for it then.” Wave chill said with a defeated sigh. “I’ll lift this stuff up and you scoot in and grab her. I don’t know how long I can hold it for though so be quick.”
Rainbow Dash nodded and clambered back onto the rubble. “Hey, kid. We’re coming in to get you out ok? Just wait there.”
The filly nodded her head silently, her eyes wide with fear.
“Alright, ready?” Wave chill said, bracing his toned body against the fallen debris. “Three… two… one!” He grunted, pushing back against rubble and shifting a small portion out of the way. As soon as the gap was wide enough, Rainbow squeezed through, one of her wings grinding up against a sharp metal spar. She grimaced but forced her way through.
“Come on kid, let’s get out of here.” Rainbow said, giving the child a push towards the door.  The filly resisted, unwilling to move from her spot.
“Come on, we don’t have time for this.” Rainbow Dash urged.
“Where's Mamma? Where's Pappa?” The filly asked fearfully.
“What happened to the speedy part of the plan?” Wave Chill called, struggling to hold the debris away from the door.
“Look kid, your parents aren’t coming back here. This place is a wreck and either you leave with us now or you can die when it collapses. “Rainbow Dash snapped irritably. She rebuked herself silently, some finesse was require in situations like this. “Come with us, we’ll help you find your parents.” She said in a much kinder but forced tone.
“Now would be nice!” Wave Chill groaned, a plank of wood falling from the ceiling and bonking him on the head.
The cream filly nodded silently and darted through the small hole, her small size getting her through without any problem.
“I’m coming through, don’t you dare drop it on me.” Rainbow snarled, annoyed she’d lost her cool in front of a Wonderbolt.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Wave Chill wheezed.  Rainbow snorted in an amused fashion and clambered through the hole, careful to avoid the metal beams jutting out this time. As soon as she had cleared the danger zone Wave Chill dropped the debris with a relieved grunt.
“That’s going to hurt later.” He groaned.
“I think we got something bigger to worry about…” Rainbow Dash said nervously, looking up at the ceiling. Through the hole in the roof she could see one of the building's load bearing columns had been snapped in half. The wreckage, by some miracle, had been holding up most of the structure above them. With the debris disturbed, the floor above had started sagging in an alarming manner.
“Uh… run!” Wave Chill yelled as the floor above collapsed with a ear splitting crack of timber and a fresh cascade of rubble. Scooping up the filly on her back, Rainbow Dash bolted downstairs, the sudden surge of adrenalin giving her the boost she needed to keep moving. She swerved suddenly as a beam the size of a tree truck crashed through the ceiling above her, crashing through the floor like it was made of tissue paper. The filly screamed and cried into the back of her neck as the dust thrown up by the impact caught up with them. Suddenly she was outside, coughing and gagging in the late afternoon sunlight.
“That was close.” She breathed, almost collapsing from exhaustion. Her heart slowly returned to its regular tempo as the adrenalin slowly washed out of her system. "Can we not do that again?"
Wave Chill didn’t answer her.
“Oh no…” Rainbow breathed, her eyes widening with horror, turning back towards the building to discover Wave Chill wasn’t behind her. She started towards the building but drew short as the four story structure collapsed on itself in slow motion. “NO!” She yelled, galloping towards where the door had stood a few moments ago. The rational part of her mind told her there was no way he could’ve survived that, there was no way anypony could’ve survived that, but she shoved that thought aside. That was too unfair, too cruel for her to comprehend that she should live and he die. One of her heroes being buried under tons of rubble seemed far too undignified a death.
“No… not fair…” She sobbed again, spotting a dark blue shape in the rubble. She darted over to it and tried pulling it free but to no avail. Blinded by grief and anger, she didn’t realise somepony tapping her on the shoulder.
“Uh, what’cha doing?”
Rainbow spun around, amazed to see the still living form of Wave Chill behind her, a confused look on his face. She opened her mouth in surprise and turned her head back to the shape buried in the rubble.
“That’s a pillow.” Wave Chill said, clearly wondering if Rainbow Dash had been hit on the head a little too hard..
“How’d you get out?” Rainbow asked, shocked.
“Easy, I flew out the window. Why didn’t you?” Wave Chill asked, not noticing the fact that Rainbow Dash had almost been reduced to tears over his apparent death. “That was a pretty dramatic collap-.” He was cut off as Rainbow’s hoof connected with his jaw.
“You arsehole! I thought you died!” She yelled hotly.
“Oh wow, you sound so pleased to see me alive.” Wave Chill snarked. “Maybe I’ll just go pile rubble over my head.”
“Don’t do it again.” Rainbow growled, marching off indignantly.
Wave Chill massaged his now aching jaw and shot a confident look at the confused and now homeless filly.
“She’s totally into me.”
 

***

 
Lucky Seven floated over the city, only four of its eight mighty engines running as it maintained a holding pattern over the city. Her decks were buzzing with activity, her usual compliment of 175 had swelled to more than double that number. Rainbow Dash had heard stories of the ship before but had never seen for real and she had to admit, it made for a fairly imposing sight. Batteries of crude rockets were sited in turrets along the ships aft and fore structure and bands of strong yet light armour covered the superstructure. The insignia of the Wonderbolt’s flew proudly from the bridge alongside the flag of Equestria. Across the bow of the airship the name Lucky Seven was printed in large, bold letters.
“Down there Rookie,” Wave Chill indicated, pointing to a small landing platform that allowed smaller airships to dock and pegasi to take off and land without fear of running into cabling or a gasbag. The duo had deposited the child at a Royal Guard post, an action Rainbow dash felt a little guilty for, before flying up to the massive airship so the Wonderbolt beside her could make his report. Wave Chill touched down gracefully and immediately strode over to an earth pony who was monitoring arrivals and departures. He talked briefly to the pony before gesturing to Rainbow Dash. “Come on, let’s go see the boss.”
Rainbow dash followed wordlessly, still feeling a little shocked from the building collapse. She looked around the floating warship, wondering if someday she’d shoot off the launch platform alongside the other Wonderbolts as a teammate rather than just a hanger-on.
“Stick close Rookie, don’t want you to get lost in here.” Wind Chill advised, ducking through an open bulkhead and making his way down the corridor beyond, several crew members scampering out the way respectfully when they recognised the Wonderbolt’s uniform. They took a few more turns before arriving at the bridge, a large command room where dozens of ponies, many not military, were clustered around a few chart tables jabbering to each other and an innumerable number of aides all at once. Wave Chill approached the table and stood at attention, waiting patiently for the pair of Wonderbolt officers Rainbow Dash immediately recognised as Soarin and Spitfire to acknowledge his presence.
“Wave Chill.” Spitfire finally said, looking up from the chart. If she was surprised by her subordinates ragged, dusty appearance she made no outward sign of it. Soarin looked up from the chart and followed his CO’s gaze.
“Good to see you back. How did your sweep go?” Spitfire asked.
“Well, ma’am. We recovered two dozen missing ponies and found several more unmarked blood spills.”
“Still?” Spitfire asked, slightly surprised. The attack had been nearly a week ago and S&R efforts were starting to wind down. The fact that they were still finding more spills and missing ponies was troubling.
“We reported their locations to the local CPs, I’d assume HAZMAT is already cleaning up as we speak.” Wave Chill said, barely stifling a yawn.
“That’s good work lieutenant.” Spitfire said, turning to a unicorn who was after her attention. A few hushed words passed between them before Spitfire returned her attention to the two pegasi. “Excuse me, urgent matters.” She explained, following the unicorn to the other end of the bridge where the wide windows offered a panoramic view of the city.
“You’ll have to forgive her, she’s a bit distracted at the moment. It seems we’ve had some recent developments further afield.” Soarin explained, his gaze lingering on Spitfire for a moment. He looked the fliers over curiously. “What’s with all the dust?”
“Building collapse. Some idiot doesn’t know the difference between mostly stable and shift-one-bloody-thing-and-the-whole building-will-come-down.” Wave Chill spat crossly.
Soarin let out a low chuckle. “I think you’ve earned a break Wave Chill, go get yourself a proper meal and some sleep.”
“Yes sir, thank you sir.”
Soarin switched his gaze to the mare next to Wave Chill. “You too Rainbow Dash, you’re only a volunteer but you’re doing a fantastic job. I can’t order you to do it, but I suggest you have some downtime.”
“Thank you Soarin.” She said, feeling immensely pleased with herself.
“No problem." Soarin smiled, pulling her aside briefly.  "Hey, maybe you could catch up with us some time? Maybe when we're a little less busy?” He asked, waving vaguely in Spitfire's direction.
Rainbow smirked. “Maybe after this thing pans out. I’m more or less dead right now.” She said back, missing the mutinous look that flashed across Wave Chill’s face.
“I'll sort something out then.” Soarin said with a nod. “In the meantime, I’m sure the facilities on Lucky Seven will serve your needs quite well. If you get the chance, drop by and say hi to the rest of the team, I’m sure they’d be happy to have a chat. Most of them are out in the city at the moment but it looks like we may be recalling them soon if this lead turns out to be something...”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Rainbow said with a loud yawn.
“Sleeping quarters are right this way, I’m sure I can find a cabin for you.” Wave Chill butted in helpfully.
“I believe there’s some space on deck three.” Soarin piped in, “I can have somepony take you down there if you’d like.”
“Nah, I’m sure Wave Chill can do it without getting lost.” Rainbow said with a tired laugh.
“That I can, right this way Rookie.” Wave Chill said, leading the rainbow maned Pegasus off the bridge.
Soarin chuckled and shook his head slowly. He turned back to the chart, slightly surprised to find Spitfire blocking his path.
“Ma’am?” He asked.
“We’ve found one.” She said, dragging him over to a larger map of Equestria without further explanation.
“For real?” Soarin asked. “Not a hoax this time?”
“For real.” Spitfire echoed. “Rouge Two is our closest asset, I’m going to dispatch them to secure the site until the lab boys can get there.”
“A sound choice.” Soarin agreed. “Where is it?”
“A little frozen backwater town in the northern wastes called Stonefall.” Spitfire said, pointing to a tiny dot on the map in the far northern reaches of Equestria. Soarin examined the map closely, silently pitying the soon to be frozen crew of Rogue Two.
“Never heard of it.”
 

***

 
Fluttershy yawned quietly and placed her head down on the small café table she and Rarity had found. Like her Rainbow maned friend she’d been awake for the better part of two days, the constant stream of casualties with minor injuries never seeming to end. She and Rarity had gone to the hospital only to be redirected to a large aid camp a good half-kilometre away. There, they had helped treat the hundreds and thousands of ponies who’d received anything from a broken bone to severe shock from the attack. While it was a job Fluttershy was used to, the constant looks of fear, panic and in some cases, downright hysteria, had not sat easily with her. Something had risen from the water and everypony was scared, ponies everywhere whispered rumours about the metal giant which now sat at the tip of Manehatten Island and it was probably no small part thanks to the presence of the Royal Guard that civil order had been maintained.
'What a week...' Fluttershy thought.
“I wonder where Pinkie Pie is?” Rarity asked, her mane more frazzled than she would normally consider acceptable. “You haven’t seen her since we left the hospital have you?”
Fluttershy shook her head slowly, listening to a pony walking past describe how the giants could shoot fire out if their mouths.
Rarity pouted and fiddled absently with a thin pen she habitually carried around with her. “You did a wonderful job Fluttershy.” She said suddenly, eying the long line of ponies who’d formed outside the undamaged café. A small unit of Guards had taken over the premises and were using it as a makeshift break station for volunteers. “This is an event of a lifetime and you’ve held yourself together really well.”
“Thank you, Rarity.” Fluttershy said tiredly. “You too.”
“I wish we could do something more… glamorous.” She sighed, looking down the street and spotting a familiar pink figure amongst the crowd
“Pinkie Pie! Pinkie, over here!” She called, attracting a few curious glances from the line of ponies. Her pink friend quickly spotted her and bounced over, her usual enthusiasm seemingly returned.
“Heya Rarity, heya Fluttershy!”  She sang.
“Where have you been? I’ve barely seen you all week!” Rarity asked.
“Well after I made that doctor almost drop a scalpel down a pony’s nose somepony at the hospital told me to go down to the children’s ward.” She shivered in excitement and her voice dropped a little. “They really enjoyed having me around, the whole ward seemed to just light up. In retrospect that may have just been the lights turning on at night though.”
Rarity shared a tired look with Fluttershy, it seemed Pinkie was back to her regular chatty attitude despite the disaster.
“Why did you leave then?” Rarity asked, watching Pinkie’s slightly infectious grin fall.
Pinkie stared at the ground. “A lot of them lost their parents. I don’t know if they’re just missing or if… they’r… they’re- dea-.” She choked.
Rarity held up a hoof to forestall her. “So you thought you’d go looking for them?”
Pinkie nodded slowly.
“Well that’s very brave and thoughtful of you, but I think you should leave that to the professionals.” Rarity said firmly, gesturing around her to a few weary rescue crews.
“But I can help!” Pinkie protested.
“And you have, you’ve done more than anypony expected of you.” Rarity said sternly. “But I am not letting you go into that trail of destruction and risk your own safety.”
Pinkie glared at the ground, dissatisfied with Rarity’s rebuke.
“I agree with Rarity.” Fluttershy said quietly. “Our emergency services are doing a fantastic job, you might get in their way.”
“I suppose.” Pinkie muttered ruefully, glad she hadn’t made a Pinkie promise to any of the children at the hospital. The three ponies glanced silently at one another, unsure of what to say.
“Who wants to go see the big robot?” Pinkie yelled with her regular ignorance of such trivial things such as an ‘inside voice’.
“Pinkie, do we really?” Rarity moaned. She was in desperate need of a bath, a proper meal and a nice long sleep. Traipsing around the city looking at an alien robot was the last thing on her mind.
“Well I think it’d be fun! I mean what if we see those aliens? Wouldn’t that be so cool?”
“Your understanding of ‘cool’ somewhat differs to mine, I think.” Rarity said haughtily.
“I’ll go with you Pinkie.” Fluttershy said, stifling another yawn. “I think it’s fascinating.”
“Oh goodie let’s go!” Pinkie said, grabbing Fluttershy and pulling her down the street at breakneck speeds.
“Uh… Pinkie. Could you… slow down please?” Fluttershy squeaked as Pinkie tore down a boulevard, scattering a group of ponies who had no other option other than to get out of the way of the speeding pink cannon ball barrelling towards them. Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut fearfully as Pinkie rounded a tight corner at a speed more suited for a 100 metre sprint.
“Alright, we’re here. You can let go now!” Pinkie Pie sang, coming to an abrupt halt. Fluttershy nervously opened an eye, surprised to discover that they had reached a cordon the Royal Guard had set up around the machine. More accurately, they were as close as they could get to the cordon thanks to the almost solid crowd of ponies all jostling for a view.  Fluttershy shook her head in confusion, how Pinkie had suddenly gotten from Downtown Manehatten to the docks so quickly was something best not considered.
“Look at that Fluttershy! Isn’t it huge?” Pinkie said in awe, mouth agape. She craned her head back impossibly far to look at the giant's slightly recessed head.
“Yes, it’s rather big.” Fluttershy whispered. She had never seen something so large before; the massive dragon she’d confronted some time ago would’ve had trouble reaching the giant’s knee. Gauging from the crowd’s chatter, there was an equal mix of fear and awe amongst the residents. Some ponies took pictures of it while others hurled insults and obscenities, clearly displeased with hosting the metal giant in their city.
“Wouldn’t it be great to pilot one of these?” Pinkie asked, standing on her hind legs and delivering an upper cut to an imaginary enemy. “I mean, I’m not usually one for fighting but that would seriously rock!”
Fluttershy eeped quietly, clearly put off by the concept of fighting a monster the size of the machine in front of her.
Pinkie suddenly froze mid-swing and looked around nervously. “Ahh! Pinchy knee, not good, not good!” She stammered, dancing from hoof to the other.
“Pinkie? What are talking about?” Fluttershy asked, unsure of what had gotten into her friend. The words had barely left her mouth when the ground started rumbling.
 
 

***

 
 
                    Michael pried open the panel and examined the fried electrical components inside with a look of disgust. True to her word, Celestia had sent in repair crews a few days after the Kaiju attack to attend to Midsummer Night. A small town’s worth of support personnel ranging from metalworkers to electricians all the way up to a score of nuclear physicists who had been pulled off their own reactor project. With Michael, and occasionally Shane, guiding the repairs the combined task force had managed to patch the scores of large holes that Switchback had made in their hull, replace what felt like several kilometres of burnt out electronics and most importantly, repair the reactor to a hopefully workable state in the space of a week.  He looked up from the electrical circuit he was rewiring and examined the maze of scaffolds, cranes and rigs the ponies had assembled to service the bulk of the Jaeger. While nothing like a shatterdome’s repair bays, the hustle and bustle of the scene felt somewhat like home, a feeling Michael had been missing somewhat.  From the head of the Midsummer Night, he had a commanding view of the entire spectacle. Beyond the clustered and disordered repair yard, the Royal Guard kept a tight cordon, keeping the citizens of Manehatten away from the metal giant. Despite the fact the Jaeger had been in the drydock for a good week, Michael could still see hordes of ponies milling around outside the perimeter, trying to catch a glimpse of the mighty machine or one of its alien pilots.
Naturally, for what good had come from the venture, there was also the bad.
The repairmen had failed to make much progress on any of their motive systems, the liaison Celestia had given them, a student of hers named Twilight Sparkle, had explained to Michael that there simply wasn’t the technology to replicate them on such a short notice. While this meant they could still move, they'd be a bit slower than normal until someone figured out how to fix them. Worst of all though, the so-called experts Celestia had brought in to examine and repair the quantum tunnelling device had failed to make any headway, decrying the device as ‘an impossible act of science’.
Of course they had failed to account for the fact that it was fuelled by a much more efficient and powerful reactor than they had ever seen. According to Twilight, one of the physicists had called the rated power output of Midsummer Night’s reactor ‘fanciful.’
Michael smiled slightly. They had scheduled to have a reactor test later that afternoon and while he wasn’t planning on going to full power just yet, he was hoping he could show the sceptics a thing or two about human engineering.
“I can’t wait to see their faces.” Michael chuckled to himself. He looked around as the clatter of hooves on the metal hull of the Jaeger rang out behind him. Michael turned his head to find a slightly familiar purple unicorn trotting towards him.
“Hello. Michael, isn’t it?” The lavender unicorn said cheerfully. Unlike most of the ponies Michael had seen working on the Jaeger, she seemed genuinely thrilled to be in the presence of an alien.
“That’d be me. Twilight, right?” Michael said, offering out his hand. Twilight stared at it curiously for a moment before refocusing her attention on Michael’s face.
“That it is.” Twilight beamed, staring at his hand again.
“How can I help you today?” Michael asked slowly, dropping his hand back down to his side awkwardly
“Our chief technician reported to Celestia that your…” She played with the pronunciation. “Nuclear reactor should be operational again. She sent me to ensure that it was up to shape before the test.”
Michael looked her over dubiously. “Do you have any idea how it works?”
Twilight bristled slightly. “I placed third in my atomic physics class. I’ve done some work on our own experimental atomic reactor.”
“Right this way then.” Michael said, gesturing to the hatch that led below. He reached the hatch and punched the access code in. “What happened to the top two then?” He asked idly.
“They’re otherwise preoccupied.” Twilight said, brushing his question off quickly. She looked down the narrow passage the ladder led down.
“How do ponies deal with ladders?” Michael asked wryly, a small grin cracking on his face.
“We improvise.” Twilight said, casting a simple levitation spell on herself. She stepped over the threshold and floated down into the conpod like a feather.
“Impressive.” Michael said, sliding down the ladder behind her. He surveyed the conpod, quickly spotting Shane sitting cross-legged in the centre of the space as he worked on rewiring a one of the control panels.
“What did I say about bringing those things in here?” Shane asked, glancing up from his work with a disgruntled look.
“She’s just passing through, don’t get you panties in a twist.” Michael jeered.
Shane scowled and returned to his work. “How’s that?” He seemingly asked no one in particular.
“Circuit 3, 6, 7 and 10 have restored functionality.” A mechanical yet oddly warm and pleasant voice answered.
“What was that?” Twilight asked Michael as he directed her to another hatch in the floor.
“That’s the Jaeger’s A.I. I call her Sweetie.” Michael answered, clambering down after her.
“A.I.?” Twilight queried, dropping the last metre and landing with a clang on the metal floor.
“She’s a really clever computer. Helps run the Jaeger for us.”
“Can she run it herself?”
“No, there needs to be pilot input for the Jaeger to function.” Michael replied, guiding her towards the reactor spaces set within the Jaeger’s chest. Her head spun around as she took in the technological marvels around her. The way her head spun around gave the impression she was trying to look at everything at once.
“Amazing!” She breathed, examining a set of computers covered in blinking lights set within an armoured rectangle.
“Yeah it’s pretty cool. Don’t touch anything though.” Michael said, pulling her away from the bank of machines.
“How would you feel sharing some of this technology with us?” Twilight probed, hoping she could possibly get a positive response from the human. “I’d imagine we’d be able to repair your motivators a little better if we actually understood how they worked…”
“I want to talk to Shane about it first.” Michael said firmly. “Personally, I’d be a little apprehensive giving you guys a bunch of our gear and telling you to go nuts. Who knows what you’d do with it?”
Twilight nodded silently, slightly disappointed. She plodded on silently, wondering how she could restart their conversation.
“I’ve been wondering, how do you know Equestrian?” She asked eventually.
“How come you know English?” Michael asked back dryly.
Twilight let out a quiet laugh. “I suppose that’s one way to look at it. It’s a bit odd isn’t it?”
Michael nodded his head silently and ducked through an open bulkhead. The circular room beyond was by far, the largest in the whole Jaeger, taking took up a fair portion of the upper chest. It had to be to contain the large steel vessel that stood in the centre. An dizzying array of pipes circled the room and in each corner sat a large radiation counter. Unlike the rest of the Jaeger which was a dull, utilitarian grey, the inside of the reactor room was a spotless white.
“Impressive.” Twilight said, instinctively keeping her distance from the reactor. Even when shut down it seemed to irradiated power sheer power.
“You feel it too? It just… feels powerful doesn’t it?” Michael said, rolling up the sleeves on the slightly oversized jacket he’d found. The survival kits bundled in the back of the Jaeger’s conpod had contained a wealth of useful tools and equipment. The ration packs they’d found, however, had remained untouched; the food the ponies had was much better than whatever the slim silver packages could offer.
Twilight paced around the circumference of the room. “How would your technicians normally access this? I’d guess that little hatch is a little small for major overhauls.”
“The chest armour can be removed and we can gain access to the reactor by removing a few of the modules. That’s actually how your people did it.” Michael explained, watching her carefully.
“All that in a week?” Twilight asked, a hint of surprise in her voice.
“It helps when we can tell them how to pull it apart and put it back together.”
Twilight edged a little closer to the reactor vessel. “I’m amazed by how intimate a knowledge you have of your machine.”
“It’s more than a machine…” Michael trailed off.
Twilight raised an eyebrow but didn’t interrupt.
“When you’re piloting a Jaeger it’s like an extension of yourself. You’re not a person anymore, you’re suddenly something more than that. Man becomes machine and machine becomes man.”
“What’s it feel like? Does it hurt?” Twilight asked.
“It can. But the feeling.” He struggled for the right words. “At first it’s like sticking your arm in wet concrete and trying to move around but after awhile it just becomes natural. The feeling you have in there when you’re linked in with someone else is indescribable.” He shivered. “There’s nothing that Shane doesn’t know about me and me about him. I swear I can sometimes hear his thoughts even when we’re not in the drift.”
Twilight had no idea what he was talking about but decided to run with it. “Shane’s your brother, right?”
“Yes, he’s a few years my younger.”
“Yes, you two do have a remarkable resemblance.” Twilight let out a quiet huff. “What’s his problem anyway? He seems so… edgy.”
“You’ve got to give him a while, he’s not exactly the type to trust strangers. He likes knowing all the facts and figures… all this- he’s just not adapted to it yet. Hell, I'm probably being a little too lenient.” Michael said, choosing his words carefully. “He’s got a good head though, he won’t do anything stupid.”
Twilight tossed a dubious look at the human.
“Probably.” Michael admitted with a small shrug.
“Alert: Power relay failure in section seven, please proceed to the relay and conduct repairs.” The voice of the A.I. chimed through a speaker mounted in wall of the reactor room.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Analysis suggests loose wiring.”
“Sounds like an easy fix, I’ll get right on it.” Michael said cheerfully. Prior to their enlistment in the Pan Pacific Defence Corp, Michael and Shane had worked for their father’s electrical company. While neither had been passionate about the job, they had both gained a great deal of knowledge in the field of electrical circuitry. He turned to Twilight. “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone ok?”
Twilight, busy examining the hastily welded together reactor shielding muttered something unintelligible. Taking her answer as an affirmative, Michael strode from the room.
“Well you didn’t really define stupid…” Twilight muttered under her breath.
 

 ***

 
Fifteen minutes and fixed power relay later, Michael strode back into the reactor room, quietly humming some classic from the 70's to himself. The relay had been difficult to find but easy enough to fix, a few moments of fiddling with loose wires and some choice curses seemed to have done the trick. 
"Say, don't suppose you're lot know anything about mus-." He trailed off, noticing the purple pony was nowhere in sight. He peered around the reactor vessel with a dumb look on his face, half expecting to see the unicorn laying in ambush. Frowning, he looked upwards. "Sweetie, where'd she go?"
"No surveillance on lower decks." The A.I. answered. Micheal's brow furrowed. The areas were so rarely used, it made sense there wouldn't be any surveillance in the maintenance areas. Why would anyone go poke around in the guts of a Jaeger anyway?
"Aww hell." Michael muttered to himself, a sense of paranoia sweeping over him. "Shane's not going to like this..."


***


“I’ve lost her.” Michael said breathlessly, cambering out from the maintenance access hatch at the back of the conpod.
Shane spun around, the bundle of cables he was holding hitting the deck with a soft thud. “What do you mean you lost her?”
“That pony, Twilight, I think.” Michael elaborated. “Sweetie had me go fix a power relay so I left her in the reactor room. Sure, big deal right? She knows what she’s doing. Anyway, I finish rewiring the relay and come back…” He threw his arms up in the air. “Boom, gone.”
“So you’re telling me we’ve got a pony loose somewhere in the Jaeger?” Shane said with a sigh of exasperation.
Michael nodded his head quickly. “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”
“And your first instinct was to come all the way up here and tell me rather than go look for her?” Shane muttered ruefully. “I told you they were up to something. It’s like all those ‘mechanics’ who keep taking detailed notes on how our arm motivators go together or those ‘blacksmiths’ who were checking out the railguns a little too closely yesterday.”
“You don’t know that.” Michael said. “She could’ve just gotten los-.”
“Warning, unauthorised system access in backup data unit.” The A.I. chimed suddenly, making both pilots look up in surprise.
“What the he- No! Shane, wait!” Michael yelled as his brother dashed towards the back of the conpod and broke open one of the supply lockers. Before Michael could react, his brother had taken a flare gun in each hand and vanished down the maintenance access hatch.
“Oh there’s going to be hell to pay for this.” Michael muttered diving down the hatch after him.
 
 
“Uh-oh.” Twilight said, her face falling as an alarm blared in the distance. She turned back to the panel in front her and shoved one of the curious metal boxes she had been about to remove back into its holder. Breathing quickly, she rooting around the floor for the few she had already disconnected. She peered back inside the box with a look of concern, in her panic she had forgotten which one went where. The sound of boots against the metal floor reached Twilight’s ears, prompting a small squeak of surprise. She hadn’t expected them to react so fast! Leaving the boxes where they were, she turned back towards where she had come from only to find her path blocked by one of the aliens, a bright orange metal tube held menacingly in each hand.
“Don’t move, fur-ball.” Shane ordered, aiming each flare gun directly at Twilight’s face. “What were you doing?” He barked roughly.
Twilight stared down the barrel of each gun, frozen in place with fear.
“I said, what were you doing?” Shane asked, noting a few hard drives scattered across the floor. He shifted his aim slightly and squeezed a round off. The flare sputtered into life with a high pitched fizz and bounced off the wall behind the unicorn before landing on the floor where it proceeded to glow merrily. He discarded the now empty gun and refocused his aim. “You’ve got five seconds till I pull this trigger, so you better start talking.” Shane snapped.
Twilight, still paralysed with fear gaped silently at him, like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a speeding yogurt delivery truck,
“Five.”
One of his thick fingers twitched against the trigger.
“Four.”
The sound of a second set of boots ringing against the floor reached Twilight’s ears and the other alien appeared behind Shane. Its eyes widened as it processed the scene in front of it.
“Shane! What the hell-.”
“Three.” Shane spat, his eyes not leaving the pony in front of him.
“Shane, put the gun down.” Michael ordered.
“I’ll put the gun down when she...” Shane jerked his head towards the pony. “Explains what she was doing snooping around down here.”
Michael turned to Twilight, a worried look on his face. “For the record, this counts as doing something stupid.” He said, slowly edging forward in an attempt to lower the flare gun.
“Two.”
Twilight’s eyes flickered between Michael hand and the flare gun that Shane was holding.
“One…” Shane breathed, his finger tightening around the trigger.
“Alright, alright! I was trying to get some data from those.” Twilight explained quickly. Shane relaxed his stance, the gun falling idly at his side. Michael stooped down and examined the hard drives for damage before plugging them back into the bank of computers.
“Come on lady, you’ve got some explaining to do.” Shane grunted, waving limply at the drive Michael was examining.
“These drives contain backups for our targeting software, balance calculations and some storage for the Jaeger's database.” Michael explained, fixing a suspicious eye on Twilight. “Now why would you be interested in these?” He asked
Twilight opened her mouth to speak but before any words could escape her mouth the Jaeger was suddenly rocked with tremendous force.
“What the hell was that?” Shane yelled, gripping the wall for support as the Jaeger continued shuddering.
“Seismic activity. Measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale.” The A.I. said, completely indifferent to the fact its body was shaking like a leaf in the wind.
“Damn it! Is the whole universe against us or something?” Shane snapped, grabbing the pony so she didn’t fall over and hurt herself. Michael stumbled, grunting in pain as his head slammed against the bulkhead.. There was another brief rumble and the worst was over, a faint tremor the only trace of the violent tectonic shift.
Michael wiped a smear of blood of from an ugly gash running down his face. “We all okay?”
“I’m fine.” Twilight said shakily. 
“Never better.” Shane snapped sarcastically, letting go of the pony and helping his brother up.
“Sweetie, how’s the Jaeger? Any damage?” Michael asked, ignoring his pounding head.
The quiet creaks and groans of the battered metal hull around them was the only response. They waited for a few seconds before a look of concern passed between Shane and Michael. 
“Sweetie?” Michael asked again, his voice taking on an edge of concern.
“Stand by, analysing.” The A.I. said, eliciting a quiet sigh of relief from Michael.
“She’ll be fine. We’ve had worse.” Michael said shakily, patting Shane on the shoulder roughly. Shane opened his mouth, no doubt a clever rebuttal already formed in his mind. The Jaeger’s A.I. was too quick for him though.
“Warning: Kaiju threat detected. Category II.”
Shane and Michael looked at each other in horror.
“Oh you gotta be kidding me.”