//------------------------------// // 11. Mare vs. Machine // Story: Magic Fortress // by AppleTank //------------------------------// Mare vs. Machine The Engineer stood by a small screen, nodding her head at the voice. “Yes....I understand....raid the League, steal some of their items.” As she listened to her new orders, the Director crept up a corner and peeked out at her. “Found you,” she muttered under her breath. She quickly covered her mouth with a hoof, worrying she spoke too loud. When no reaction came, she relaxed just a tiny bit. Now, just to prove a point... She crept out of her hiding spot and leveled her stolen gun at the Engineer’s head. Two sharp reports echoed throughout the hallway. Both shots slammed into the back of her skull and neck, quickly ending any screams before they started. The Engineer slumped onto the control panel, smearing blood as she crumpled lifelessly. The Director sighed and stowed away the gun. Her disguised burned away around her. “Get up. Both of us know you’re faking it. I know you have the souls of my friends, and I intend to take them back.” A few seconds passed before the Engineer stirred. Purple fur matted with dried blood covered half of her face, barely covering up the bits of black steel and wire underneath. Torn black skin tangled under her face where she smashed into the wall. Her eyes zoomed in on the Director. ”Origin Detected. How are you still functioning. Has the soul drain malfunctioned. The Director snarled. “Oh it worked alright. I had to borrow a body so I could beat you up for it. You’re not going to hoof them over peacefully, are you?” ”Negatory” “So be it.” Her bat was out in a flash, dashing towards the machine. She swung it in a downward arc, but the Engineer caught it against her foreleg without much difficulty. A hissing sound emanated from the robot’s back. The Director’s eyes widened; she quickly ran to an adjacent hallway as a machine gun unfolded out of the Engineer’s back. Heavy caliber bullets showered plaster into her. She ran through a few experimental spells in her mind as the Engineer continued to fire, and possibly slowly advancing towards her. “Let’s see if this works.” She casted a small spell matrix around the bat, creating a large bubble forming around the top half. She poked the tip out and winced at the amount of reverbations from all the bullets slamming into it. But, a small grin spread across her sweating face when she saw the energy swirling around the vibrating bubble. “Thanks, Chrysalis, for this Energy Conservation Spell.” She shot out a small flare, temporarily blinding the Engineer as she dashed out of cover. By the time the machine’s optics had returned to normal lighting conditions, the Director was buzzing through the air, bat in her grip and swinging. Frowning, the Engineer simply raised her hoof to stop it. That’s when the Director released 10% of the energy. The force of thirty 10mm bullets blasted her in the chest, tearing bits of skin and her metal endoskeleton away. She slid to a stop a few feet away, her newly exposed red eye glaring back murderously. The Director smirked. “So that’s where you kept us.” The Engineer looked down, surprised that the damage was enough to expose the Amulet of Souls that powered her extra abilities. “Now if you would excuse me, I’m going to put them back where they belong.” She leapt at her again, alternating between blasting out shockwaves or bucking. The Engineer steadfastly blocked ever hit, braced properly now that she knew how much force was being thrown her way. A tiny bit of orange light pulsed within the gems of the amulet. The Director grunted in annoyance at being unable to do much damage to the amulet inside the Engineer, and was running out of mana. The amulet switched to shining baby blue. With a swift side step, the Engineer slipped under the Director’s guard, sending her off balance from the sudden disappearance of a counterweight. “Oof!” she cried. The Engineer slid forward a step and raised a hoof over her head for a devastating right hook...but paused. The Director looked up at her, a pained grimace underneath her bat. “Ah. You’re learning.” The Director rolled back, and the two of them circled one another, the machine looking to avoid the energy conserving bat and the mare seeking to remove the embedded amulet. “Darn it,” the Director whispered to herself. “This is what happens when you rush in without a plan of action.” The amulet flashed red. ”Come on,” the Engineer taunted. ”Ran out of options? I’m sorry, but I’m just better than you, meatbag. The Director was barely paying attention. In her mind, she was running through a list of things she has and options that are open. Okay, items. I have me, my bat, three bullets for a gun, my notebook and quill. We’re in a hallway, with one intersection behind me. So, a path with a blocked line of sight.... She carefully hid the floating revolver coming out of her bag with her bat, sliding it and her notebook into the adjacent hallway as she passed by. A few revolutions later, the Director noticed that the Engineer was closing in on her. Okay, its now or never. She slid back, her bat held in front of her, snarling. “Hello, dears,” a voice said. “Am I intruding?” A bit of smoke fell around the Queen of Changelings, Chrysalis. She held a hoof cannon in her telekinetic grip, its barrel wide enough for a suicidal unicorn to wear it. She smirked as she leveled it against the Engineers head. The Engineer spun around and narrowed her eyes, her pendant flashing pink. She crouched ... and stumbled to the side, barely missing the bullet when she realized it wasn’t responding. She narrowed her eyes, choosing to pay more attention with her eyes than depend on the apparently malfunctioning amulet. She was able react somewhat faster, though three small scraps nicked her cheek bones. She stepped side to side, waiting for her to reload so she could counterattack. A spark of insight bloomed inside her mind. Alert: Discrepancy detected. 1) Her accuracy has gone completely down. 2) That was ten shots. “Sky Piercer!” The Engineer spun around in surprise, but it was too late. The Director, enshrouded in green flames flowing onto her from the bat, charged in low and fast, and blew a gaping hole off the right side of her body. The Engineer ricocheted off to the side, her right foreleg twitching uselessly. She growled, and pulled the damaged limb completely off. Tiny manipulators popped out of her neck, reconnecting to the dangling wires. Gears whirred, exposing a small shotgun. She looked up, and froze. The broken amulet hovered beside her, the gems embedded inside popping off. The changeling smirked, smoke floating from the gem into her horn. She smirked. Lavender flames erupted around her chitinous body. Purple fur flowed behind it, and her hole filled mane was replaced with a sparkling purple striped cut. She grew a poofy pink tail, a orange hoof, a bright blue eye and the other a fierce red. Stripes of white curled around her horn like a helix. “Welcome back, my friends. And now for you...” The Engineer growled and fired off multiple shots. The Director twitched in place, moving just enough for every bullet to miss. She smirked. Her bat glowed, and then multiple smoky copies materialized besides it. Her blue eye flashed with energy. “There is only one Twilight Sparkle” The Director dashed forwards, her cloud of needle sharp bats almost resembling fencing swords trailing behind her. The Engineer flinched when she passed by, froze... and nothing happened. A few sparks fell out of the Director’s blue eye. She shook it off. “I wouldn’t move if I were you.” The Engineer, of course, ignored her. She spun around and fell apart from every joint. Twilight levitated a cloud of screws and bolts towards herself. “I warned you.” She dropped the pieces and walked down the hallway. She paused for a moment, basking in the spirits of her friends coursing through her. She was about to start moving again when she heard the sound of clapping. Chrysalis walked towards her, giving a smirk. “Great fight there, little pony. Bravo.” Twilight snarled. “You were actually here? Why didn’t you help? That could’ve saved a bunch of time!” “It was amusing to watch. Besides, you came out fine. Beat the machine that was supposed to be better than you,” Chrysalis replied. “You should be proud.” Twilight blushed momentarily. “Well, it was mostly my friends helping me...” she nuzzled a floating yellow speck hovering around her. She coughed. “Ahem. We should be getting out of here. Where are the rest?” Chrysalis pointed behind her. “I was scouting out the place. The rest of the team are coming along. Kinda difficult when half of them are out of it.” True enough, there were some labored wheezing noise coming through the hallways of the facility. Luna stumbled into view, covered in blood. “I had to fight all the guards around this place myself,” she explained. “The bug over there kept on avoiding fighting unless she could get a clean kill.” Chrysalis just smiled and shrugged. Luna stopped with Firefly on her back, Nightmare Moon temporarily absorbed into Luna’s helmet, Cadence having a magic bubble on her head dragging her forwards, who in turn was dragging Sombra forwards. Celestia was chasing some flaming butterflies Discord made out of an aerosol can and cardboard. Discord cracked his wrists. “Feels so good to be back,” he said. “Alright, this way,” Twilight said, guiding them to an exit. They went down to an empty train station, and set a small signal into a hidden mailbox slot. “Brace yourselves. The operators on the other side decided that reopening the portal to fit all of us would catch too much attention and take too long. Instead, we borrowed some of Spike’s fire. Sorry, but this might hurt a bit. Didn’t have time to find other solutions.” Luna waved her off. “Its fine. You’ve got us out of there, and that’s enough. Plus, I want to get rid of the lunatic in my mind right now.” She winced. “She’s whining how I’m running from the battlefront. Somepony must’ve gave her a concussion somewhere. In any case, we have to rehabilitate the rest of them.” She glanced at Discord playing catch with Celetia. “Jury’s still out on this one whether him being less energetic is a good thing or not.” Twilight nodded, and sent a few passcodes through the tiny crack. A few seconds later, a jet of green fire enveloped the entire group. And then there was silence.