Twilight was the first to rush over towards the downed alicorn.
"Zach! Zach, are you alright?!" She franticly asked when she reached him.
"Yeah... yeah... I'm fine." He said, but it was evident that he was not alright. "Don't... worry about me... Just take care of... the others." The white alicorn said through pained breathes. Zach didn't care about his own condition, he cared more about his friends, his friends who were severely burnt from Blazeian.
"Zach, their already being taken care of. Right now though, I'm worried about you." She said, however, her words fell upon deaf ears, as Zach had passed out from exhaustion. Worried, Twilight put her ear to his chest, hoping the worst had not happened. However, she sighed in relief as she heard his his heart beat. As she removed her head from his chest, she realized that Ponyville's hospitals wouldn't be able to treat the three, Zach, Rainbow and Octavia. They just didn't have the right equipment, but she knew a place that did.
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Zach woke up with a jolt, finding himself on what appeared to be a hospital bed. He tried to recall what had happen to put him on the bed, he then remembered that Blazeian had worn him out, not to mention making him ram into a wall. He pushed himself up from the bed, and took in his surroundings. He was a in hospital, but that much should have been known from the get go. He wasn't attached to any large machine, to check his heart rate and the like. As he was looking around though, he heard the faint creeking of an opening door.
"Ah, Zach! Your awake!" The joyful purple alicorn said. Twilight quickly made her way to him, enveloping him in a hug.
"Hey Twilight." Zach said. "How long have I been out?"
"You've been out for about five hours and thirty minutes." She replied. The white alicorn simply looked at her before saying.
"Oddly specific." After a moment of awkward silence, Zach spoke again. "So... how are Rainbow and Octavia?"
"Well..." Zach bit his lip at the tone that she pronounced that word. "they're fine, at the very least. But their burns are so severe though, it will take a while before the doctors can completely heal them." With the words leaving her mouth, the room was filled with dead silence once again. Neither of them seemed to know what to say after that. The silence that had filled the room had been broken by a long, deep sigh.
Zach slowly got himself out of the bed, not wanting to stay in the hospital for long. As he made it onto solid ground, he grunted in pain, his left leg hurt just to stand on it.
"Be carful Zach. In the last fight with Blazeian, you pulled some muscles, namely your left leg." Twilight said as she made her way to his said to support him if she needed to.
"Good to know." Zach said sarcastically. He lifted his hoof, making his way out of the room like a dog with a sticker in its paw. Twilight followed him out, ready to help him if he needed to be helped. As the two left the room, Zach could practically feel all the eyes that laid upon them, from patients, to nurses, to doctors. He paid them no mind however, all he wanted to do right now, was to get outside. As the two alicorns neared the door, Twilight hurried up ahead, upending the door with her magic to allow Zach to leave. "Thanks Twilight."
As the white alicorn reached the outside, the suns rays were beating down on his eyes. He put his left hoof over his eyes to block out the light from his eyes, resulting in some more pain. He allowed his eyes to adjust to the light, but when he saw where he actually was, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
"Twilight, where are we?" He asked the purple alicorn as she too exited the hospital. She looked at him before saying.
"Oh, we're in Canterlot." Zach looked around. They were in fact in Canterlot, he could see the expensive looking building, the rich and snobby civilians walking the streets, yup, Canterlot.
"Why are we here?" Zach questioned. "Ponyville has a hospital, sooo, why are we not there?"
"Well, Ponyville's does have a hospital, but they won't be able to treat the type of wounds that Rainbow and Octavia have."
"And... why can't they?"
"Because the unicorns there don't have the proper magic to regenerate lost tissue, muscle, skin. I'm sure you saw how Rainbow had to let her wing heal on its own."
"Yeah."
"Well... that's pretty much why."
"Okay-wait, then why hadn't they healed my leg?" Zach asked, raising his leg up a bit.
"I can only guess... they didn't have enough doctors?" Twilight said with an awkward smile. Zach scrunched his nose.
"Magnificent." Zach deadpanned, doing his Spy impression.
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Zach and Twilight decided to walk around, seeing as there isn't any danger... yet, and they really don't have much better things to do. As they were walking, Zach couldn't get something off his mind.
"Twilight..." Zach got her attention. "Do you ever... wonder why I'm here?"
"Zach, are you-" Twilight began to ask, worried for him, but was cut off by Zach.
"No, I'm not depressed or anything like that. What I'm asking is why I'm here, like... how do I put this?" Zach thought for a moment of how to word his question. "Like, why was I chosen? Out of the millions of humans back on earth, why was I chosen to appear in Equestria like this. Because I'm sure there haven't been any other pony-turned humans, has there?"
"Not to my knowledge, no." Twilight responded.
"Then there is a reason to question why I'm here. Not only that, but also about my magic. Even you said you're not capable of this kind of magic."
"So, you're saying that you shouldn't be here?"
"No... what I'm really saying is that, I'm here for a reason, whether it be to defend you guys from the umbralings, or some other reason. I don't know, but I do know I am here for a reason, and that I have this magic for a reason." As Zach is explaining this, Twilight sees something headed strait for him.
"Watch out!" She yelled out, lunging herself at Zach and pushing him out of the way of a red laser.
"Holy shit!" Zach blurted out when they landed back on the ground.
"Zach! Language!" Twilight scolded him.
"Sorry!" Zach apologized. He saw another laser heading toward them, acting quick, Zach summoned up a shield, blocking the laser from cutting through them. As the laser ended, Zach stopped producing his shield, and looked up to see who-or what-the offender was. Looking up, he saw a mechanical creature, it appeared to look like a shield with a dark red spike in the middle. It was designed with two red lines intersecting each other at the spike. The lines had an 'X' shape towards the end of the body.
There was two other sets of slanted white lines, again, intersecting at the middle. They were cut off from going towards the end of the body by some black plating. The actual body of the robot was a dark blue. Sprouting from the center of the back were four arms, each ending in a smaller circle with a dark red spike, resembling the actual body. One of the arms was pointed at Twilight and Zach, presumably where the laser had been shot from.
"Ah, X-Valor, one of my most powerful drawings." Zach said, mostly to himself.
"That's one things I never got, how are these drawings so powerful?" Twilight asked, getting back up to her hooves.
"Well, you imagine what they would do and how they would attack, that kind of stuff."
"...Really?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"What, I may have wanted to put them in like a game or animation or something." Zach defended himself before turning to X-Valor again. The robot moved one of its arms towards him, attempting to crush him. Before the arm could obliterate him, he jumped to the left, avoiding the attack, but at the cost of hitting his leg. Zach collapsed to the ground as his put all his weight on his left side as X-Valor's arm smashed into the ground at his right. It lifted its arms, reveling an impression in the ground where it had attacked.
As Zach got back up to his hooves, he decided to leave the ground and take to the air instead. He figured he would be able to fight better in the air instead. Wasting no time, he quickly shot three lasers at the levitating robot. But as the lasers made contact, it didn't seem to do anything to it, it didn't even seem to register it was just attacked. It swung its arm towards the white alicorn, causing Zach to yelp as he narrowly dodges the attack.
Twilight had started to shoot her own lasers as well, gaining X-Valor's attention as it turned around to try and knock her out of the sky.
'I didn't even feel a charge building up. So that means... my lasers are useless against this guy!' Zach thought to himself. He wasn't going to be able to hurt X-Valor that way, so instead, he needed an alternative way to hurt it. He flared out his wings and took to the air, heading towards the robot. Meanwhile, Twilight had her hooves full with dodging X-Valor's swings and the occasional laser beam.
She was beginning to pant a bit, dodging and attacking was taking its toll on her. The robot made another swing, Twilight tried to move, but she wasn't fast enough and was caught by the robot arm. She was flung towards the ground, crashing into a few houses. Zach's eyes widened, but he kept his mouth shut, he was trying to attack X-Valor from behind and didn't want to miss this chance. As he neared the unaware robot, he encased his hooves. But as he raised his leg to strike, he mistaking raised his left leg, he clenched his teeth and grunted in pain.
X-Valor had heard this and quickly turned around, it's arm at the ready. It swung forward, nailing Zach on the side. As Zach was sent sailing through the air, he managed to correct himself just in time before ramming into a house. From there, he flew to the left, avoiding X-Valor's arm. Zach quickly turned back around, hitting the robots arm with his right hoof. Though he felt a charge building up now, the attack seemed to do very little to the robot.
X-Valor quickly swung it's it arm to the left, nailing Zach again. The white alicorn slammed into the ground, creating a trail as he smashed through it.
"Oh... that's going to be another trip to the hospital." Zach said as he slowly picked himself off the ground, wiping blood off his mouth. Looking up, he saw X-Valor was hovering above him, its arms pointed strait at him, most likely ready to shoot laser beams at him. "Bloody wanker." Zach hissed under his breath. X-Valor was about to finish him off, until a midnight blue mean of magic hit its sides, throwing off its aim. Zach looked beyond the robot to see a familiar blue alicorn. 'Luna'?!
X-Valor turned towards the lunar princess and proceeded to shoot lasers at her instead. However, Luna dodged through them like nothing.
"You will have to try better than that." She said, blasting X-Valor again, and for the first time, it actually liked pained. As X-Valor was trying to recollect itself, Luna landed near Zach. "Are you alright, Zach?" She asked.
"Peachy." He said. "To tell you the truth, I was not expecting to see you here."
"Well it is my job to protect the ponies of Equestria, of course I would join this battle." She said. She then noticed Zach holding his left hoof up. Knowing what was wrong, Luna worked her magic on his leg, instantly, Zach felt a tingling sensation come across his leg. As it stopped, he moved his leg around, now feeling any pain while doing so.
"Wow, thanks Luna." Zach said, setting his now healed leg on the ground.
"You're welcome Zach, now go check on Twilight, I'll handle this metal beast." She said as she took to the air again and headed for the robot. Zach nodded as he himself took to the air to find Twilight, which wasn't hard to do, since she was in a gaping hole in the side of a building. Zach quickly flew down to her, picking her out of the reckage with his magic as gently as possible.
"Twilight, are you alright?" He asked, only to be answered by a glare from her barely conscious form. "Okay, stupid question. Are you alive then?" He was answered again by another glare. "... Oh just tell me your condition then!"
"Well, I'm still alive. But I'm sure I have multiple broken bones." She said as she coughed up some blood. "There is... also that, and all the cuts on my body as well." She said. Zach looked her over, and she indeed was littered with cuts, both big and small.
"Alright, just hang on for a minute." He said, as he wrapped his magic around her, and carrying her out of the hole as gently as possible. As he exited the hole, he saw Luna and X-Valor still going at eachother. The robot had burn marks from being blasted, and the alicorn had cuts and bruises from being slammed into the ground and buildings. Zach gently set Twilight on the ground, finding no better place to set her.
Just as he did, Luna crashed into the building next to them. Looking up, Zach saw the robot was looking at them. Without hesitation, it made the move and swung its arm towards them. Zach summoned up a shield, blocking the attack. But X-Valor was not going to settle for that, it started turning its arm, the spike drilling the shield as sparks flew from the two. Zach started sweating, doing his best to keep the shield up.
Soon, X-Valor broke through the shield, causing it to shatter. Zach yelled out in pain as he held his chest, feeling as though he had just been stabbed. X-Valor was about to crush them and finish them for good, but it was once again shot by Luna, canceling its attack. Luna landed near the two other alicorns, looking up at X-Valor.
"Zach," She said, getting his attention. "can you distract it so I can heal Twilight?"
"Distract the rampaging, death crazed robot. Got it." He said as he recovered, flying up to X-Valor. "Hey X-Valor!" He yelled out, getting the robots attention. "Go fuck yourself-I don't have fingers..." He said, unable to give the robot the finger. He seemed to have struck a wire, as X-Valor completely forgot about Luna and Twilight and instead was focusing solely on Zach at the moment. It shot a laser beam at Zach, who was able to dodge it.
"It's a good thing I'm a good dodger, damn those dodgeball games." He said to himself, dodging another laser. X-Valor then swung an arm at him, but again, he dodged it, hitting the robot in return with an encased hoof. He quickly moved away as he did so though, anticipating it to try and hit him. And just as he thought, X-Valor, swung its arm to try to hit him. With successfully dodging the attack, Zach made his way to the main body of the robot, encasing his hooves as he did so. "Fool me once, shame on you!" He said referring to when he dodged the arm, only to be hit by it again. He hit X-Valor once after he said it. "Fool me twice, shame on me!" He said, hitting X-Valor once more. The robot tried to laser him, crossing the two laser beams in front of itself in a attempt to hit him, but Zach was already gone.
"Conga you fools." Zach said in his Soldier impression, dancing in the air. It was obvious that by Zach making light of the situation, X-Valor was getting more irritated by the second. Its attacks were becoming less thought out, and more so 'I just want to hurt you' now. Zach dodged another attack from the robot and instead hit its arm instead. "It's just like a boss, first you learn their pattern, then you know how to kill them." Zach commented. "Just three more hits, then I get my charge." He said to himself again, as he dodged another laser beam.
X-Valor was now getting fed up with constantly missing, so it just started shooting all four of its lasers at Zach. But all this was accomplishing was making the robot even more mad, as Zach was now able to dodge the attacks with a little more ease. Just as it was about to swing at Zach, it was shot in the back by a powerful blast. Turning back, it saw Luna and Twilight in the air again. With the attack and its inability to hit Zach, it had enough. It let out a metallic roar as it body changed from dark blue to dark red, it's spikes turning purple as well.
It spread out its arms, electricity arching out from the now purple spikes. The electricity hit the three alicorns, causing them to yell out in pain and fall from the sky onto the ground below.
"Ow... can't dodge electricity." Zach said to himself as he picked himself up. He looked back at Twilight and Luna, seeing that they too were picking themselves up. Looking back at X-Valor, he saw that a orb of energy was forming around the large spike on its body. The orb started to grow in size, Zach then realized what it was doing. "Oh crap!" He exclaimed. Luna looked back at the robot and saw its preparation for an attack. Thinking quickly, she grabbed herself, Twilight and Zach in her magic and teleported them onto a nearby roof, out of the way of the attack.
X-Valor shot a beam down at the street below, still thinking that they were down there. As the attack ended, the street was black and crumbled, seeing no bodies, X-Valor looked around for the tree alicorns. However, it received a punch in the back by Zach.
"Wanker!" He shouted out as he punched the robot again. Acting quickly he attacked it one last time, earning his charge, however, he was hit by the robot, being sent into a building. X-Valor, though it managed to hit Zach, had enough of this. It turned towards the sky, spread out its arms and shot laser beams out. It started turning and moving its arms in random directions, causing as much damage to the town as possible.
Twilight just watched as her birthplace was being destroyed by this accursed monster. Deep inside herself, she felt something she had not felt for a long time, true anger. Zach was barely pulling himself out of building when he saw flames come from the top of the building he was in. Looking up, he managed to catch Twilight heading towards X-Valor, her body now an orange color and her mane and tail fire now.
"Holy crap!" He exclaimed as he watched her ram into the robot, canceling its attack on the city. The robot tried to counter attack, but Twilight was to swift, as she started wailing on the monster. Zach could only watch with wide eyes and a smirk on his face, he wasn't expecting this. Luna gingerly flew down to Zach level in the building, watching the carnage as it unfolded as well. "I can safely say... Twilight has a worse temper than me."
"Agreed." Luna simply said, recalling what had happened to Blueblood, it wasn't anything like this, that's for sure. Meanwhile, X-Valor was having its metal butt handed to it. There was dents in it, the metal was peeling off,electricity was coursing through it body, some chunks of the body were missing, even one of its arms were gone. However, Twilight wasn't finished yet, she called forth all her magic, putting it into a beam that she shot strait at X-Valor. The beam hit it directly in the center, sending it crashing down into the ground. After using that attack, Twilight finally calmed down, her colors returning and nearly passing out from using so much magic at once. She was even barely able to keep herself in the air.
Seeing the robot on the ground, Zach quickly jumped out of the building.
"My turn!" He called out as he headed towards the robot. Once he was close enough, he activated his charge, lifting up into the oar, then coming back down for the finale. He crashed back down, sending X-Valor into the air. Its remaining arms exploded off of its body, flying off into the distance. Small explosion started occurring through it body, slowly tearing it apart. Soon, a large explosion occurred, blowing the front of the body clean off. The corpse of the robot landed back on the ground, now nothing more than scrap.
"And another victory for the good guys." Zach simply said, earning a small chuckle from Luna and Twilight.