//------------------------------// // Episode 4: A Mysterious Ally // Story: My Little Enigman: The Silver Hope // by Kamen Writer //------------------------------// Episode 4: A Mysterious Ally "So...this is our new plan..." The multi-headed being said in a disappointed tone. Its eyes were locked on white, humanoid robots Kaizon had brought before it. The robots were of tall stature, had lines all over their shell, had pointed ear-like objects at their sickle-shaped heads. They also had four arms, the upper two arms having guns, the lower two having claws. "No, my lord..." Kaizon replied, "...this is our new army." "And where in this cursed cluster did you find these...things?" "The Planet Cray..." the purple alien replied. The gigantic being he was speaking to suddenly froze. "I struck a fine deal with the...Nova Grapplers. They seemed rather attached to their coliseum...but not enough to maintain possession of these Cray Soldiers..." "I see 'Cray'..." the large alien replied, studying the robots' lines, "but 'soldier'? Not so much..." "...yet." Kaizon interrupted, "But first, let me show you my plan..." One Cray Soldier ran into the room and saluted to the aliens. It spoke to Kaizon in a series of clicks and whirs, and he was startled by the news. "You..." Kaizon started, "...LOST IT?!" He spat acid at the robot's face plate, melting it, but it reformed. "Don't you know the trouble I got myself into just to get that thing?!" The giant alien scoffed. "'Cray Soldier' indeed...You should ask for your money back..." Kaizon walked back and forth for a while, and smiled. "No...this is just going on better than planned..." The sky was clear that night. Scootaloo and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders have been stargazing for some time now; the telescope they borrowed, a star map, and a stargazing manual were all scattered around them as they just laid down on the grass, staring at the stars in the sky. "Seen anything?" Scootaloo asked, her impatience finally surfaced. "Uh..." Apple Bloom said, her eyes still fixed into the binoculars she was using, "...nothin'." "This sucks!" Scootaloo pounded the ground with her hooves. "We'll NEVER see any aliens at this rate!" "But, Scootaloo..." Sweetie Belle said, "if we give up now, we won't be able to see if astronomy IS our talent!" "We already did this last month..." the pegasus replied, "It's not like something's gonna-" Scootaloo's statement was interrupted by a loud noise. The three fillies ran to where they heard the sound, and saw a long line of wreckage. At the end of it was a large rock, a bit larger than their heads. They approached the rock and saw that it glowed green from the cracks on its surface. "What should we do?" Sweetie Belle asked. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other, and the latter reached out to the rock. Before her hoof touched it, the meteor collapsed, revealing a glowing, green egg. The egg seemed to hatch into a small green alien with large yellow eyes. "Oh snap." the three fillies said in unison as they watched the alien study its new surroundings. "For the last time, Bon Bon, I am not going to fix that thing!" Rocket said. His eyes showed great disgust at the contents of the wooden box his customer brought to him. "Come on, Rocky...Just this once?" Bon Bon replied in a seducing tone. "Alright, let's put some things straight here..." Rocket started, "First of all, nopony calls me 'Rocky'. Second...Seriously, Bons, I have a little brother!" Bon Bon looked at him seductively. "He's ten, for crying out loud, TEN YEARS OLD!!!" Rocket yelled, "I can't just have this kind of...thing in my house!" Bon Bon leaned toward Rocket and stroke his wing. "Come on, Rocky~We both know what's really going on~" she told him in an even more seductive tone. Rocket knew what she meant. Rocket shoved the box to her hooves. "Get out!!!" he said as he shoved her out of the shop. "What is wrong with her?!" he thought. Rocket Blaze rushed to the ESP Laboratory along with some members of the Attack Squad. When they entered the room, they were startled by the sight of a giant blue bird-like monster. Scientists were testing weapons, throwing what seemed to be useless equipment, and also Applejack using a plasma cannon at it. Fluttershy was being restrained by Twilight and the others, but Rocket shook off the thought when the bird monster shot feathers at him. Rocket and the others took weapons and started fighting it. The monster wrecked the laboratory, but after a few minutes, it suddenly stopped moving and started to shrink. Everyone in the room was surprised to find an exhausted blue bird resting in the place where the giant bird once was. Fluttershy rushed to retrieve it and ran out of the building. "What....the...hell?" Rocket thought out loud. The stunned pegasus stood there, ignoring Twilight Sparkle, who approached him. "I told her to bring along her blue jay." she said, "One of the scientists, uh...'Wild Card' I think his name was, developed a formula from the slime sample. It could mutate a being to the size and power of a kaiju..." "I guess he didn't figure out the 'control' part, eh?" Rocket asked. "Yeah..." Twilight replied, shaking her head, "...we're working on it, but its not going so well." Rocket looked at the trashed laboratory. "I can see that..." "Go to the simulation room," Twilight said, "I'll stay here and help with the clean up." "Okie..." Rocket said as he strode to the simulation room. On the way there, he felt something bump his leg. He looked to check what it was and found Spike, Twilight's dragon. "Yo, Spike." "Hey, Rocket." the baby dragon replied. "How are ya lately?" Rocket asked, "Still trying to win Rarity? She's a toughie..." "Come on, Rocket...I can totally do it." "Whoa...it looks like someone means business." "Just wait and see..." Spike said with a smirk. He saw the Enigbrace and focused on the gem. Spike drooled, a lot, enough for Rocket to know what's going on. "No." Rocket said. "What? Come on, why do you even wear that?" Spike asked. "It's....a cosplay thing..." Rocket replied, "...I played Dungeons and Dragons last night...It was brutal." Spike looked at Rocket with suspicion and walked to the laboratory. Rocket went on his way to the simulation room, where he saw the crew of Cosmo Fang, namely Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. "Speak of the devil." Rocket thought to himself. He watched the three operate a small simulation cockpit, and after a few tries they decided to take a break. Rocket noticed that something was wrong with Rarity. "Hey, Rarity." he said. "Oh, hello, Rocket Blaze." she replied. "You seem down." "Oh. I didn't do so well at training..." "No....I know the face of someone who failed at training. You're worried about something." "Alright....I was supposed to make some dresses, but the gems I needed to complete them are missing!" Rarity wiped her tears with a towel. "You were robbed?" "I couldn't find any sign of a break-in, but I couldn't find the gems, either!" "Interesting..." Rocket rested his chin at his hoof, "...maybe your sister-" "Oh, she would never!" Rarity replied, slapping Rocket, "How DARE you accuse her of such!" Rocket rubbed his cheek. "I was going to say that maybe she noticed something you didn't..or know something about it." "Oh..." Rarity said, blushing in embarrassment, "..I'm sorry. But I asked her and she said she doesn't know anything about it. But she was suspicious, and she looked worried." "What did you mean 'suspicious'?" Rocket asked. Rarity thought, "Well...she seemed worried, and always kept her eyes at this basket she brought." "What was in the basket?" "I...don't know. But it is covered in a sheet and she wouldn't let me touch it." "Okay..." Rocket said, "I guess I have a training session to do. Try telling Twilight; she might know what to do." "Thanks, Rocket Blaze." Rarity replied, walking outside the room. Applejack woke up. It was late at night, and she swore she heard something...digging. She took the ESP standard-issue laser blaster and went downstairs. It suddenly became awfully quiet, and everything seemed to be still. Applejack walked around the area a little, pointing the gun's pointer at the direction where she heard something move. Suddenly, the digging noise returned, and Applejack slowly followed it. It seemed to come from the safe, where the family's money is hidden. Applejack ran to the safe's location and saw the silhouette of some strange creature. It seemed to be smooth, frog-like limbs, a large head with two, glowing yellow eyes. The safe was cracked open and more than half of the money is gone. Applejack fired three shots at the strange being, but it jumped and dodged all three. She then tried to aim at it, but it moved too fast and eventually broke out of the house through a window. Applejack ran to chase it outside, but her legs seemed to bump into something and she fell down. She stood up again and lit a nearby lamp, the illumination revealing what she collided with: Apple Bloom. "What are ya doin' at a time like this?!" Applejack yelled, "It's nearly midnight!" "I..." Apple Bloom's yes shot from left to right, "...was going to get a drink of water...Then I heard somethin', then....this." Applejack zipped past Apple Bloom and ran outside and looked around. She only saw a pair of footprints some few feet from the broken window, and apart from that, nothing. Apple Bloom ran to her side and seemed worried. "Is it gone...?" Apple Bloom asked. Applejack looked around and sighed. "It's gone....But it's still out there...WHATEVER it is..." "Could we go looking for it?" Apple Bloom said, sounding more worried. "No..." Applejack replied, "...not now, and not you. Go to bed, I'll follow..." Apple Bloom turned, but then something suddenly dropped in front of her. She looked up and saw a strange being with four arms and a long head. She and her sister looked all around them and saw that half a dozen more of these things arrived. "GET OUTTA HERE!!!" Applejack roared as she fired at the beings with her gun. Apple Bloom ran away and hid behind a wheelbarrow. The beings seemed to regenerate after receiving a shot. Applejack managed to dodge their shots, and tried throwing anything she can at them, but they simply whacked them away with their claws. They seemed to run out of ammunition, but their guns seemed to morph into claws. They surrounded Applejack, readying their claws and modifying some of their limbs into melee weapons. But as one of the beings extended its arm for the first strike, a laser beam shot through the air and the claw disintegrated. The alien morphed whatever was left into a simple three-fingered hand. The beings looked at the direction from where the shot was fired and saw that one of their allies was shot in the core. The dead being dropped to its knees and fell face-flat on the ground, revealing a cloaked pony and Apple Bloom hiding behind this figure. This is where Applejack realized something about these beings: They were machines! The mystery pony shot at three of the robots, all losing a limb. Applejack kicked two of them, and rammed down the rest. Four of the robots charged at them, but Applejack and the pony fired shots at them, leaving only two of them. These two looked at each other, morphed their arms into legs, and fled. The mystery pony watched them leave, hid its gun in its cloak, and walked to the gate. "Hey!" Applejack shouted, the cloaked figure turned its head. "Thank you!" she told it. The figure looked forward and continued walking. "Hmm...weird." Apple Bloom said. "Well, that pony helped. It's apt that I should thank him, right?" Applejack replied, putting her laser gun into its holster. "I guess..." Apple Bloom yawned and rubbed her eyes. "You should go to sleep now." "Okay, g'night." "'Night." Applejack said, embracing Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom smiled and walked home. As her little sister walked to her room, Applejack watched her suspiciously. Why was she really up this late? Why did she seem so eager to find this creature? What is she worried about? Applejack thought carefully about this, on her way to her room. She looked outside the window, thinking of the creature, and proceeded to sleep. To be continued...