There was a flash, and a sound like tearing paper.
The three ponies who'd been on the cliff found themselves instantly in the robot's cockpit, standing or slumped awkwardly in their respective chairs. They settled into a proper seating position as one by one, the other members of the group arrived. Almost all of them were asleep, either rapidly waking up or just curling up tightly in whatever seat they'd landed in. Gradually, loud groans started to fill the cockpit, ponies protesting before they fully woke up to where they were. Diamond Tiara fell out of her chair.
"Hey, everyone!" Scootaloo yelled, flapping her wings excitedly. "Wake up! It's time!"
Spike opened his eyes. "What do you mean... oh no." He bolted upright, clinging tightly to his chair. "Oh no. What are we doing here?"
Cicada floated down from somewhere near the ceiling. "Were you not paying attention?" he said. "It's time. Round one begins in less than a minute."
"Why now?" Piña Colada complained. Cicada had warped her to her chosen spot on Silver Spoon's loveseat, and she was unsuccessfully trying to poke the other pony on it awake. "It's the middle of the night!"
"I don't control when the enemies arrive. Battles happen when they happen. It's your job to be ready." Cicada twirled in a circle, looking around the room. Most of the foals were looking up in sleepy confusion. Diamond Tiara hesitantly got back into her seat. Satisfied, he drifted down in front of Scootaloo. His voice seemed softer than before. "Now, little pony. Are you ready?"
The pegasus grinned cockily. "You know it."
"Very well." The mouse rose up again. "Let's get this show on the road."
There was a terrible noise, like a mighty beast groaning to life, and a spot of blackness appeared on the wall behind Scootaloo's head. This expanded to fill the room, surrounding the group with darkness. Those who hadn't been awake before certainly were now. The chairs simultaneously rose into the air, eliciting a few shrieks, but nopony dared to move. All at once, Scootaloo twitched. She stiffened, her body glued to her cloud, eyes wide, then closed. The others stared at her, breaths held.
After a while, she spoke. "...I can feel it," she said. "Somewhere..." She looked around. Everything was still blackness. "Where are we? I know it wasn't this dark a minute ago."
"Underwater," Cicada answered. "Between battles, I hid the robot way off the coast of the town you're in. Normally I'll transport you straight to your opponent when it's your turn, but since it's your first time as a group, I left you down here to figure out the controls." He drifted almost to the floor, angling his face downwards. "You're down there. You can climb up whenever you're ready."
Scootaloo peered down. Within what she now recognized as murky depths, she could see the outline of an even darker shape on the ocean floor. "It's too dark," she muttered. "If I could just..." She closed her eyes and focused.
As if responding to her thoughts, the robot lit up. Orange magic rolled in lines across the giant's surface, brightening the waters around it and illuminating the massive shape from all sides. Scootaloo grinned. Tilting her head, she moved the projection on the walls of the cockpit around the robot in a circle, examining it from all sides. Apple Bloom gulped. "Scoots?" she asked. "How are you doin' that?"
"I don't know," Scootaloo said gleefully, returning her field of vision to its normal place above the giant. "I just am." She looked at Cicada, who was now floating close above her, as he'd done with Pollinia. "Hey, Cicada?" she asked. "What's this robot's name?"
"Name?" The mouse tilted slightly, as though confused. "It doesn't have a name."
"It's gotta have a name," she argued. "Anything this important should have a name. Can't you give it one?"
"Not my job." He turned away. "But if you want to call it something for your convenience, that's up to you."
Scootaloo looked back to the rest of the group. "What do you think, guys?"
Almost immediately, Dinky Doo piped up. "Unicron!" she yelled.
"That's a dumb name," Diamond Tiara huffed. "It sounds like something a little kid would make up."
Dinky frowned. "But... look," she said, pointing down. "It's a unicorn."
"Not all of us are unicorns, Dinky," Peachy Pie said. "We should give it a name that's fair to everypony."
"Everyone," Spike added.
Snips spoke next, followed by others. “Mega-mare?”
“Z-Pony?”
“Colossus?”
“Ponyville Prime?”
“Black Thnooty?”
“Equus?”
Scootaloo shook her head. As pilot, it was mutually understood that she would have the last say. "No, no... wait." She paused. "What was that last one?"
Everyone looked towards Berry Pinch, who'd been the last to speak. "Oh, um... I said Equus." She shrank a little in her seat, smiling shyly at the unexpected attention. "Like the giant horses from old legends. And I just thought, since we're fighting for Equestria, and we're all Equestrians, ponies or not... I just thought it fit."
There was a pause. "Ah like it," Apple Bloom said. "Equus it is!"
There were nods of agreement, some hesitant, most genuine. "All right," Scootaloo said. "Now we're ready." She raised herself up in her seat and pointed skyward. "Equus... Go!"
Nothing happened.
A few ponies looked at each other. "Shouldn't something be happening?" offered Rumble.
"Um... hang on." Scootaloo shuffled uncomfortably. She refused to look towards Cicada, whom she could feel staring at her. Experimentally, she raised one of her legs, trying to encourage the robot below to do the same. Part of it moved, but not enough to shift the titanic structure. "Come on," she muttered. She closed her eyes again and focused, trying to tap into the part of herself that had known how to turn on the lights. All I gotta do is...
Suddenly, something clicked.
The giant's leg moved. Scootaloo's eyes sprang open. "I get it," she said, then bounced and flapped excitedly. "I get it!"
"What?" Sweetie Belle asked, chewing a hoof nervously. "What do you get?"
"I... I can feel it," Scootaloo explained. "I'm not... controlling the robot. I'm not moving the robot. I... I am the robot!"
A world opened up inside her head. She saw through a hundred new eyes; she flexed muscles she'd never known she had. With newfound strength, she lifted up her metal legs and took her first, stumbling steps as Equus, orienting herself against the angle of the slope and beginning the climb to her first battle.
It took only a few strides for her to get used to the giant’s pace, and only a few after that before light started to become visible on the surface. She shut off the lights on her sides and marched on. Close to the shore was a dropoff where the ground rose up sharply, right at the point where the top of her horn was leaving the water. She stopped and raised herself up carefully, twice almost stumbling before she managed to get her enormous front hooves over what was, to her, a step. “You sure you’re okay, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yeah, I got this,” she answered confidently. “Just getting used to balancing.” As she pulled herself up her head breached the water, followed by the rest of her. Water sprayed off in all directions as the titan emerged, rivers running down its sides in the moonlight. They were still a considerable distance from the shore, but the water only came up to Equus’ knees. It marched forward and then stood proudly, needlessly turning its head from side to side as Scootaloo scoured the night horizon for signs of her opponent.
When she saw it, she summed up the thoughts of everyone present in a single word. “Huh?”
Coiled up near the base of the former cliffs of Seaddle was a long, ropelike mass. Like Equus, it seemed to be made from plates of armour, but unlike the massive unicorn it was a faintly glowing white, rounded all over without any hard lines to be seen. It was wrapped around itself like a serpent, but without an obvious head; a metallic dome topped the pile, a small green patch glowing up towards the sky.
"That's my opponent?" Scootaloo said incredulously. "What even is that? How am I supposed to fight it?"
"You're the pilot," Cicada said, orbiting around her lazily. "Figure it out. It doesn't matter what strategies you use, so long as you manage to destroy its vital spot."
"Right." She eyed the pale mass warily. "I don't think it's noticed us yet. I'm gonna try a beam!"
Nothing happened. Frowning angrily, Scootaloo looked around at the unicorns of the group. "Hey, guys? How do you use magic?"
Those with horns looked at one another and made various shrugging motions. Sweetie Belle winced. "Um... it just kinda comes naturally?"
"Never mind, I got it." The robot's horn began to glow, amassing a ball of orange energy at the tip of its horn. Scootaloo grinned and pointed. "Equus... Fire!"
A beam of light rocketed out, leaving with enough force to send Equus sliding back slightly through the water. It scored a direct hit on the enemy's side, but was deflected off, shooting out over the ocean. Somewhere near the horizon, an explosion shot a plume of water and stone hundreds of feet into the air, leaving a swirling cloud of steam behind.
Tornado Bolt turned pale. "That was... too much," she said. "If that had bounced the other way..."
"I know," Scootaloo said, slightly shaken herself. At the edge of hearing, she could detect Seaddle's earthquake sirens going off again. The enemy robot's side was scorched, but not so much as dented. "I don't think I'll try that again." She livened up and settled into a fighting stance, preparing to charge. "Guess we'll just have to do this the hard way."
"Careful," Archer cautioned, looking over her shoulder. "It definitely knows you're here now."
The enemy was starting to uncoil. The dome on its head rose into the air, revealing a cluster of barbed tentacles dangling down behind it, centered around one large one. Seemingly unencumbered by gravity, it rapidly untangled itself and rose into the sky, swimming through the air like an eel. Its main tail was easily twice the length of Equus, snaking spastically back and forth in the air, while the smaller tentacles that surrounded it pulsed in and out from the center in unison. The combined motions resembled a snake/jellyfish hybrid, circling far out of reach over Equus' head as the assembled foals looked on in bafflement.
"...No fair," Scootaloo croaked.
Before she could figure out what to do about this new development, the serpentine robot abruptly changed its course and dropped out of the sky, rapidly picking up speed. "Look out, it's coming!" Peachy Pie squeaked, covering her head with her hooves.
Scootaloo tried to dodge to avoid the charge, but only ended up stumbling and barely moved. The falling robot continued, aiming directly for her head, but at the last second turned sharply upwards. Its tail, however, continued on, cracking against Equus' face like a whip. The impact was enough to severely dent the unicorn's face-plate, as well as sending it toppling over to the side. Scootaloo reeled back as though she'd been struck herself. She threw out one metal hoof and barely managed to catch herself before she fell, but before she could rally a counterattack her opponent had already sped off into the sky, picking up speed for another strike.
"Augh!" Scootaloo yelled in frustration. She lit up her horn again and fired off three shots in quick succession, two missing completely, the third only glancing off the serpent's domed head and blasting a hole in the clouds above. This slowed but didn't stop it as it charged down again, this time from the side, and landed another denting crack on Equus' neck before shooting straight up into the sky again.
"What are you waiting for, loser?" Diamond Tiara yelled. "Just kick it or something!"
"Hey, this is hard!" Scootaloo shouted back, trying to keep her temper. She followed the pale serpent with her eyes, counting down the seconds until it struck again. The moment its path changed, she reared up and turned to face it, readying her front hooves. It dove towards her, not stopping. As it got closer, she swung, and missed; the robot was too fast, dodging out of the way seemingly without trying and cracking another blow directly to her underbelly.
"Ah!" She clutched at her own belly and tried another swipe at the serpent, managing to catch the tip of its tail but only managing to knock it aside. The serpent didn't bother rising all the way up into the sky this time, circling just above the unicorn and twisting every few turns to snap its tail downwards, landing lash after lash onto Equus' unprotected back.
Scootaloo tried to rear up again, swiping at the tauntingly close enemy, but its tentacles sailed overhead just out of reach. A crack across the back of her head was all it took to smack her back into the ground. Another blow landed right across her horn, bending it sharply downwards and almost ripping it from her face.
"Oh, come on!" Scootaloo yelled. "This isn't fair!" She looked towards Cicada furiously, but the mouse seemed to be ignoring her. "How can that thing fly when I can't? How do you expect me to beat this thing?"
Cicada stayed silent, staring down at the tortured sight below. The enemy had turned its attention from Equus' head and was starting to slam against the dark robot's side, putting a widening crack in the armour. Scootaloo turned furiously and swung at it, managing to score a direct punch on the middle of the descending tail. There was an ear-splitting crash of metal smashing against metal, and the two giants were thrown away from each other. The serpent sprung back into the air, the lower half of its main tail now branching off at a strange angle. Scootaloo, however, had come out of it the worst; half of her right forehoof had been torn off, leaving a jagged stump that slowly bled metallic debris.
"No, no, no!" Scootaloo stomped on her cloud, and her giant did the same, sending up shockwaves at it slammed the remaining half of its hoof into the ground. "This is impossible!"
"Don't give up!" Dinky Doo reassured her, though she trembled in fear as the serpent swung around and started to circle again. "We believe in you!"
“I think I’ve figured out your cutie mark,” Rumble added from across the circle. “It’s your opponent’s tails, eight small and one big. If you looked at it directly from behind—”
"I don’t care, Rumble!" Scootaloo yelled. “What do I do?” She snorted and pawed at the ground. "Fine. If that's how it wants to play... I'm gonna charge it!"
"Scootaloo, wait," Archer spoke up. She tracked the serpent's movements carefully as it circled above them. It was rising up high again, trying to regain its lost speed. "The most flexible joints on the tails seem to be right behind the head. If you can land just one hit on the back of the dome, you might be able to disable the entire body!"
"Really? Awesome!" Scootaloo grinned, but her anger was diminished only slightly. But how do I reach it? she argued. The only part of it I can reach is its tail. It always keeps its head out of reach, and to hit it I'd have to attack from above. If I could... just... fly!
But amidst a pit of old resentment and burning frustration, a newer, somehow calmer part of herself made itself known. But I can't fly. Like it or not, this is what I have to work with. So what can I do?
Slowly, another grin started to appear on her face, a real one this time. "Hang on, guys," she said. "I've got an idea." Keeping her face turned towards the circling serpent, she maneuvered away and started to back towards the ocean, into the deeper, darker waters.
Seeming to sense her intent, the serpent changed course, abandoning its circles and diving out of the sky towards her. The others tried to edge away in their seats. "Scoots, whatever you're doin', can you do it fast?" Apple Bloom requested.
"Don't worry," Scootaloo said calmly. Her rear hoof hit the edge of the dropoff. She laughed. "It's funny... I always do my best thinking on the edge of cliffs." A second before the serpent struck, she jumped backwards.
The twirling tail swished harmlessly overhead as Scootaloo sank into the ocean, darkness concealing her. She crouched down, keeping the last of her head under the water and hiding her from view altogether. "That's a nice move," Cicada finally said, a glimmer of grudging respect in his voice. "But it's not going to help you. You can't win battles by hiding."
"I'm not done yet," Scootaloo said proudly. "Watch this!" She called up the barest glimmer of light into her bent horn and fired a pencil-thin beam into the ground in front of her. Even this was enough to blow a small crater into the ocean floor, shaking the ground and sending up a plume of dark bubbles. Satisfied, she fired off a second beam, then a third, each a little bit further away, forming a trail down the slope leading deeper into the waters. After the fifth beam, she stopped and tensed up. She did not have to wait long.
Barely a second later, the white robot crashed its way down into the water above where the fifth beam had landed, its tail swinging around to meet an opponent who wasn't there. Instantly, Scootaloo leaped. Bright lights sprung up along her sides as she smashed into the full body of the serpent, getting one leg over it and dragging it down into the darkness. Together they hit the ocean floor with an explosion of dust and a boom that shook the cockpit, the robot on the bottom wedged partially into the soft ground.
The serpent's smaller tentacles now made their purpose known as they reached and impaled themselves in both the ground and the unicorn, trying to pry itself free while the main tail thrashed wildly. Scootaloo, however, did not give up in her assault. She pulled away and stomped her front hooves down, pinning the thick tail to the floor with one hoof and crushing the back of the dome with the remains of the other. She reared up and stomped down again and again, laughing and shouting in exhilaration, as the twitching of the serpent’s tails got weaker and then stopped completely.
"You can stop now," Cicada said eventually, unaffected by her enthusiasm. "You've crushed its vital spot. The battle is over."
As he said this, Scootaloo cracked one last stomp onto the serpent and then stopped. The faint glow from her opponent, as well as the bright green plate on its head, had both gone out. She leaned back as the lights from her own robot went out as well, accompanied by the fading whirring sound as the power drained out of it. "Whew," she said, wiping her forehead. She hadn't realized she'd been sweating.
Gently, the circle of chairs lowered themselves to the floor, and the darkness around them was replaced by the familiar brown of the cockpit's walls. The group was silent for only a second more before Apple Bloom started cheering. "Woo hoo! Scootaloo, you did it!" She leaped up from her chair and ran towards her friend, stomping in applause the whole way. Others got up and joined her, standing and stomping in a circle around Scootaloo's cloud. "Ah knew you could do it," Apple Bloom continued, tears of pride in her eyes. "Ah believed in you the whole time."
"You really are a professional monster slayer!" Sweetie Belle added.
"That was so awesome!" Snips shouted, practically bouncing.
"Nicely done," Archer said, nodding in approval.
"Good job, loser," Silver Spoon added, not quite looking at her.
"Thanks, guys," Scootaloo replied, breathing heavily. "But I couldn't have done it without—"
There was a pop, and her friends vanished. Scootaloo froze, glaring up at Cicada, who was floating in the middle of the room. "Hey, what gives?" she yelled. "Where did they go?"
"Back to the hotel. Now that the danger's passed, your teacher will be checking on them any second." He drifted closer, but seemed hesitant, lacking the usual directness in his movements. "Good job, kid," he said haltingly. "To be honest, I didn't think you had it in you. You've far exceeded my expectations... which weren't high to begin with, true, but still. Well done."
"Uh... thanks?" Scootaloo replied, uncertain whether she'd just been complimented or not. "So why am I still here? Can I go back to my friends now?"
"Not yet," Cicada answered. "You've earned a reward. There's something I thought you'd like to see."
With a flash, Scootaloo disappeared. She instinctively closed her eyes, but when she opened them again, they went wide with shock.
She was flying over what had once been the cliffs of Seaddle. Or, more accurately, she was falling over what had once been the cliffs of Seaddle. She was high up in the air, higher than she'd ever been on her own, and her stubby wings were utterly failing to keep her aloft. She started to scream, but then stopped when two facts came to her attention. The first was that, even though she could feel herself moving downwards, the air wasn't rushing upwards past her like it should have been; the second that, despite the same, the ground didn't seem to be moving any closer. She stopped her flailing and looked around, confused, as a flash of whiteness passed in front of her eyes. Cicada was floating nearby, keeping her afloat. Once every half-second, he would teleport her back up to her initial height, causing her to fall through the same patch of sky over and over again. "Enjoying the view?" he said.
"Uh..." Now that her heart had stopped trying to burst through her chest, she took a moment to look around. She could see the whole of Seaddle stretching out in one direction, and the endless ocean falling away in the other. She could trace the pattern where Pollinia had fallen into the cliffs, and even make out an imprint of the dark unicorn in the stone. "Yeah," she said breathlessly. "This is..." She broke out into a grin. "This is incredible!"
With a whoop, she started flapping again and angled herself into a dive. Cicada reduced the frequency of his warps and let her fall, simulating her soaring over the destroyed cliffs. He let her "fly" back and forth until she located the spot where the lighthouse had once been, gently correcting her until she was hovering in the exact spot where she and her friends had stood together just a day before, looking over the ocean.
"Thanks, Cicada," Scootaloo said, flapping her wings contentedly. "You're not such a bad guy after all." She looked up at him wearily. Despite having done little of the work herself, she was finding herself out of breath, her little heart pumping faster and faster.
Cicada sighed. "Don't mention it," he said. He turned away, staring out over the ocean as well. "So, tell me," he said, speaking slowly. "When Pollinia was with you, she didn't tell you... anything about what was going to happen? Anything at all?"
"No. But hey, look at us! It's not like we needed her help, right?" She rolled over onto her back and looked at Cicada, who was still staring out over the water. "Why?" she asked. "Is there something I should know?"
Cicada was silent for a while. Eventually, he spoke. "Nothing that can't wait until morning."
They floated there for a minute more, the mouse and the pegasus filly side by side. Then, at the same time, they vanished.