Resistance of steel

by Valsion

The wild ones

Three figures were sitting at a campfire, surrounded by their robots. The Shenlong Gundam, Coustwell and G9 Gernsback were covered in leaves to hide them from sight. It took quite a while to gather enough but it's better to be safe than sorry. Wufei quietly sat against a tree, while Applejack and Pinkie Pie were joking around at the fire.

Gain Bijou however was not present for now. A nearby outpost reported trouble and requested assistance, which he volunteered for. Plans were quickly made, so he could rejoin them at the next outpost on their route. It was sad for them to have to part but Pinkie Pie was already planning their welcome back party for Gain.

Kurtz, who was talking to Tessa on the radio of his mech, then came back to them and sat down. „Alright everyone, I just got the following message. Something important was stolen from the Saotome research facility and they believe the thieves will be in the area.“ He announced to them. „They also have their own unit after them.“

Wufei spoke up. „Should we pursue them?“

Kurtz shook his head. „We are still heading for our original destination. We will only engage them, if we happen to run into them. Otherwise everything stays the same.“ He explained. Their unit was small enough and time was of the essence. Too many distractions could proof themselves fatal for the plan.

Applejack then raised her hoof. „One question though, what exactly do these people do? Ah would like to know before we get anything back for them.“ Technology could be quite dangerous, that was something she quickly learned here. It was actually quite ironic. When they were transported into this world, Applejack wanted to be as careful as possible, so they won't destroy anything with the Coustwell. Now there were more than enough people here, where they have to worry about the Coustwell getting destroyed.

Kurtz put a finger on his chin. „I don't know exactly. From what I've heard, they are researching a new energy source. It's supposedly powerful but unstable, so we are to exercise extreme caution. The captain said, if we are not sure we can retrieve the package without damaging it, we are to abort the mission and continue with out own, staying silent.“

These orders were pretty logical to him. If they have stolen some new form of energy reactor, it would be unwise to risk blowing up half the countryside. And the pursuit unit from Saotome should know what it's doing. They were probably scientists, who would exercise an almost surgical precision.

Suddenly Pinkie Pie's left eyelid twitched three times and a shiver seemed to go through her. Applejack for some reason seemed to be nervous. „Uh Pinkie, what does that combination mean?“ She looked around, as if she expected to be jumped by a bear or something. She saw the confused expression of Kurtz and Wufei and started to explain. „Sometimes Pinkie can predict future events with a series of strange twitches. Ah know it sounds silly but it's true.“

The two humans still couldn't quite believe it. Many tried to predict the future and only got a hit with luck, if at all. With slight bemusement, Kurtz remembered the entire year twenty-twelve stuff, where many people believed the world would end. The new years celebration was probably pretty awkward for them.

Pinkie Pie then explained her prediction. „I don't get that combo too often, I just know that it means someone will be proven wrong about something they believed very soon.“

Kurtz then laughed at this. „Oh, is that all? Good then that we won't be attacked in our sleep. But seriously, if you can predict the future, we should use you as an early warning system.“ He joked.

„That sounds like a good idea to me. That way we will be one step ahead of any enemies.“ Applejack chimed in, apparently not noticing that Kurtz was just pulling their legs. „But ah think we should go to sleep now, we still have a long day ahead of us.“

A good idea, since they were up for very long every day lately. Kurtz agreed to take the first watch. They all crawled into the little tents and soon fell asleep.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Wufei were currently waiting for Kurtz to come back from his scouting trip. They were about to cross a large, open area and needed to make sure no one was nearby to spot them. Right now they were by a cliffside, still shielded from view. Finally the radio buzzed and they heard the german snipers voice.

„You three need to come here immediately, I've found the thieves we heard about yesterday.“ It was a strange coincidence, that they found them just after hearing about the theft but they needed to see the situation for themselves and went on their way, climbing up. „Make sure to keep your heads down and avoid making too much noise. They are currently going through the pass on the other side of the cliff.“

The others slowed down a bit and were very careful. Giving away their position would ruin their chances and put them into a bad spot, so they slowly crawled up. On the top they saw Kurtz's M9, slouched behind some rocks for cover. „Alright, we have to be very careful now. They are about to pass underneath, you take those rocks over there and on my signal we push them down on them. That should be a nasty surprise.“

„I prefer surprise parties but I guess we can't do that.“ Said Pinkie, trying to bring in a little fun. She was clearly not happy with the idea of fighting even more but she needed to cheer up the others more than ever now. They got into position and, on Kurtz's signal, they caused the rocks to fall down on them.

Now that they were out of cover, they got a clear look at their enemies. The arms slaves they were using were all roundish, bulky humanoids with sand colored plating. As they looked up, Applejack and Pinkie saw their heads, lacking any features aside from the four, red eyes.

They have heard from Kurtz about this model on the way, these are called: Savage. They scattered, trying to avoid the falling rocks but many were squashed or heavily damaged. For a brief moment the ponies were horrified but as the enemies opened fire, there was no more time to think. Wufei wasted no time and leapt down, prepared to engage the enemies in close combat. With some hestitation, Applejack and Pinkie followed with their Coustwell. Even if some of the enemy pilots died because of the rocks, now they could avoid additional deaths.

Kurtz was no good at close combat, he decided to use his rifle from up top. The higher ground was making it difficult for the enemies to hit him and they were busy with the Gundam and the Coustwell, it couldn't go better. As soon as they had won, they would round up the surviving enemies, tie them up and use one of their emergency beacons.

With clearer view he also saw, that one of the rocks had hit the truck, that stored the stolen goods. The container was badly dented but did not seem to have been too damaged. „Oh man, I hope the stolen goods are not damaged, otherwise the captain will have me scrub the toilets for a month.“

The battle was quickly decided in their favor. The escort was not too big to begin with and their ambush only helped to weaken them further. Soon all the Savage units were unable to continue combat and they had to surrender. Under Applejack's and Pinkie Pie's watch, the pilots were tied up, so they couldn't call for reinforcements after they left.

Now that the situation has calmed down, Kurtz then noticed an opening in the container. „Wait a second. The container is open, I need to check if everything is alright in there.“ He did not notice how the enemy soldiers seemed to get really scared and the sky darkened. Just as Kurtz was about to take a look inside, they heard a loud howling.

In the plains, a lone figure stood, howling towards the sky. It was humanoid but the red skin, too large build and horns quickly destroyed any delusions about it being human. A storm brewed overhead, with the eye right above the creature. Something came down from the eye of the storm. It was a huge creature, almost like an insect with a demonic head and dragonfly wings on it's back, with a sickly yellow color.

„What the hell is this?“ Wufei asked in shock, as he ran back to his Gundam. Everyone got ready for battle. Applejack and Pinkie Pie readied the Coustwell for combat. Kurtz repositioned himself on top of the cliff, to get a clear shot on the beast. Looking through the video feed of his sniper scope, he aimed at the head of the creature.

They could see, how the gigantic creature picked the smaller one up from the ground and held it in front of its head. There was a strange glow in the eyes of the larger monster. „Are they communicating somehow?“ Kurtz wondered, as he watched. Then, without warning, the insect-like giant stuffed the humanoid into its mouth and ate it. The ponies who watched it felt nauseous as they saw the blood on the skull-like face.

As the monster finished its meal, it looked at them and charged. „AJ, Pinkie, Wufei, we have to destroy it somehow. We can't just let that thing rampage through the country.“ Kurtz ordered and opened fire. The bullets from his rifle chipped away at the carapace of this monster but did not seem to do any significant damage. Kurtz grimaced as he noted, that he would need to shoot at this thing all day to even cause any serious damage.

The size of this monster was impressive, thought Wufei, as he got closer. Even his Shenlong Gundam only went up to the things knees. When he entered close combat range, the beast swatted at him with it's oversized arms. Swiftly he jumped over the swipe and brought his beam glaive down on it.

Wufei thought, this would be enough to cut one of it's arms off but instead he had great trouble cutting through the flesh. With his glaive stuck in the arm of the beast, it brought him up to its face. „Oh no you don't.“ Wufei said, as he raised the arm with the dragon fang towards it and a stream of flames shot out. This seemed to be more effective, as the monster recoiled.

By now Wufei also managed to unlodge the Gundams beam glaive and jump down from the arm again. As the monster was still staggering, Kurtz and the ponies aimed a volley of the orgone fists and rifle shots at its face, managing to knock it down. „And the insect is swatted.“ Pinkie cheered.

Their cheers were quickly dying down though, as the monster got back up. As they looked at its face, they saw that the damage was still not enough. It quickly dawned upon all of them, that they could slow this thing down at best. „Everyone fall back. We have to flee to the next outpost and give an evacuation warning to all Mithril outposts in this area.“ Kurtz ordered. Their attack was a bust, now they could only reduce the damage.

„What about those guys?“ Applejack asked, pointing towards the soldiers they tied up earlier. They were all clearly scared out of their minds. Many desperately tried to get up and flee. „I know they are our enemy but we can't just leave them for this monster.“

Kurtz sighed. This was bad, the ponies would never forgive him if he left the enemy soldiers to die. „I'll let them free, you try to distract that thing just a little longer.“ With that he packed up his sniper rifle and jumped down to the bottom.

As he landed, a large explosion rang through his ears. „What the? The M9 is not that heavy.“ But then he heard another explosion, coming from the direction of the creature. It seems like reinforcements have arrived.

The reinforcements were about three, large combat jets. One was red, the other silver, the last one yellow in color. Whatever explosives they used in their missiles must have been the really good stuff. The monster was now visibly hurt and angrily swatted at them. However, with their maneuverability, these attempts remained fruitless.

Inside the cockpit of the red jet, the pilot was grinning. „Alright guys, let's not waste anymore time. Those Mithril guys look like they are in trouble. CHANGE GETTER-1.“ He yelled and the three of them flew in formation.

The ground-bound troops wondered what they were doing, as they started to fly in a line with the red one in front, silver in the middle and yellow at the end. The giant monster started to spit lightning at them but even with that, the three pilots remained undeterred. The three jets started to connect, forming one large ship.

That was not all though. The form shifted and twisted. Arms and legs formed and they could now see the head of the humanoid form, almost as tall as the monster they fought. The combined robot flew straight towards the insect-monster, ramming it's fist into it before landing a few dozen meters away from it.

Everyone got a good look at it now. Almost like a horned, red demon it stood tall with wing-like appendages on the back and sharp looking blades on its arms.

„Holy shit, those guys know how to make an entrance.“ Kurtz noted, as he watched them go in for their second attack. The monster did not even get any time to recover, before getting another, red fist into its skull.

As the red robot jumped in the air, trying to deliver a flying kick however, the beast managed to grab it and throw it away. As it landed, the monster tried to smash it with its tail but the allied pilots managed to evade and go for the next attack.

The mouth of the monster opened its jagged jaw and shot an energy beam, hitting the red mech right in the chest, sending it flying again. The others were worried that this might not be enough and they had to flee after all but their spirits were raised as the robot got up again. „Alright everyone, let's at least distract that thing.“ Kurtz ordered and continued fire. He did not have much ammo left but it was unlikely they would encounter a larger enemy on the way to the next outpost.

Applejack, Pinkie and Wufei followed suit. Wufei jumped in front of the monster and used the flamethrower of his dragon fang again, burning the monster and blocking its sight.

„Alright Pinkie, let's try out best.“ Applejack said. With the pushing of a few buttons, the attachements on Coustwells shoulders came off and flew towards the monster, combining in mid air. The Coustwell followed suit, attaching the two on its hand. Next Pinkie Pie channeled much of the orgone power into that claw and a crystal grew, creating an even larger claw.

With this, they rammed the right leg of the beast. The orgone crystal shattered, after they slashed open a huge gash on the leg. For a moment the ponies were squicked out by the blood coming from it. The broken orgone crystals then reacted, exploding wherever they were flying through the air and damage the beast further.

The main pilot of the red mech grinned at the sight. „Looks like they are not as wimpy as I thought. But anyway, let's finish this. GETTER TOMAHAWK!“ By now some sort of spiked ball came out from a compartment on the back and a blade and handle came out of it, creating the weapon.

Charging at the monster, it tried to take them out with lightning again, blindly firing past the flames of the Shenlong Gundam. With a jump, they bridged the final distance between themselves and the monster, bringing the large tomahawk down on it, as the Gundam and the Coustwell jumped away from the monster.

It was a clean cut, right through the middle. Blood was gushing out of it, as the monster fell dead and exploded. As the beast was confirmed dead, cheers went through the air, by all the pilots and even the soldiers that were still tied up.

After the battle, the pilots of the Getter robo disassembled their robot into the three individual jets again and landed nearby. The leader of the group, Ryoma quickly checked on the container. To their horror they learned, that more of the Oni, as these monsters were called, must have escaped during the fight. Professor Saotome gave the Getter team the order to accompany Kurtz and his entourage.

But first a little briefing was in order.

The Gundam, M9 and Coustwell approached the trio and kneeled down, so their pilots could get out easier. „Who lets a child pilot a multimillion war machine?“ The tallest of the Getter pilots asked. His name was Hayato. He used to make his living robbing people, until he tried it at the wrong place and was quickly subdued. After a few more years, he mellowed out somewhat, although he still loved a good fight more than anything.

Wufei remained stoic however. He was above letting himself be provoked like this. As Applejack and Pinkie Pie got out of their mech however, the Getter pilots eyes shot wide open in confusion. „First of all, thanks for saving us back then. Second, yes you are seeing this. These two ponies are the pilots of the Coustwell.“ Kurtz said, gesturing in the direction of the two.

As Applejack and Pinkie Pie introduced themselves, the three of them reluctantly shook their hooves. Ryoma, Hayato and Benkei all at once took a deep breath and figured, nothing was impossible. After all, they were piloting a giant robot and fought against demons.

„Alright, we just destroyed a giant monster and got introduced to colorful, talking ponies. How about we keep moving before a purple dragon shows up.“ Ryoma suggested. As Pinkie Pie asked him how he knew Spike and explained how he was the assistant of her friend, who was a unicorn, Ryoma felt a headache coming on.

The question how they could follow without drawing attention was also answered quickly. It turned out the Getter robo could be combined into more than one form. The second form, with Hayato as main pilot had a giant drill. With this, they could tunnel through the ground beneath the group. So they got the Getter team into their radio frequency and headed for the next outpost.

On the way, AJ and Pinkie explained their situation and how they got here.

„Alright, let me get this straight.“ Ryoma started. „Your princess gave four powerful weapons of mass destruction to a farmer, a hyperactive, a bookworm, a diva, an introverted vet, an athlete, a baby and her schizophrenic sister?“ He counted.

While AJ really did not like the way he talked about her friends and the princesses, it was about right. „Yes, and now we need to find them and get princess Luna to a safe place.“ She added. „Also, princess Luna doesn't have some mental issues, she was possessed by an evil spirit.“

This did not make the situation any saner in Ryoma's eyes. „Anyway, those guys you are hiding moonbutt from must be pretty tough if you weren't gonna fight them with those mechs.“ He said, earning an unsees angry look from AJ and laughter from Pinkie Pie.

Benkei remained pretty quiet during the introductions but now he had some questions. „Say, have you ever heard about Amaterasu?“ He had this strange hunch about Celestia. Maybe she was connected to the sun goddess Amaterasu. After all, the horse was a sacred animal to her.

„No, never heard of her. Why do you ask?“ Answered Applejack. From those three she liked Benkei the most. Ryoma was way too respectless for her tastes and Hayato for some reason creeped her out. She felt as if he was dangerous.

„Well... in the Shinto religion the goddess of the sun is Amaterasu. Horses are the sacred animal to Amaterasu. So I thought, since your princess raises the sun, that she was somehow connected to her.“ Benkei answered. It seems his hunch was wrong.

„Actually, we're ponies, not horses.“ Said Applejack, somewhat surprised to hear this. The parallels were there, so she understood why Benkei would make the connection. „But maybe you can ask Luna if we meet her. She would know more about that.“ That is, if they meet her. The world was big and they had a lot of work already.

„Meh, ponies are just small horses anyway.“ Said Ryoma, clearly bored with having to sit there while they tunneled through the earth.

Benkei and Applejack decided to ignore him. „There was even a story, how Amaterasus brother, Susano-o almost created an eternal night and was banished. Although to the mortal realm instead of the moon.“ Benkei then explained. This got the attention of both ponies. The parallels were really astounding.

„He was jealous of her power, so to vent his frustration he burned down her rice fields, flayed a horse and threw it into Amaterasus loom and killed one of her servants.“ This story made the ponies nauseous. This Susano-o must have been a nightmare of a brother. Applejack was pretty sure not even Nightmare Moon was that bad.

Not knowing how ill the ponies felt, Benkei continued the story. „Amaterasu was so upset, she locked herself into a cave and refused to come out. Only through a huge festival could she be persuaded to come out again to raise the sun.“ He explained.

Pinkie Pie, who was first to recover grinned widely at the last part. „And that's why a good party can make everything better.“

„Sorry to interrupt your storytime but we're at the outpost. Here we're gonna restock, repair and pick up Gain Bijou again. He's not gonna believe what he missed.“ Said Kurtz, as the group reached their destination. With the Getter at their side and reunited with their friend, everything was looking up.