//------------------------------// // Alpha Testing // Story: The Mechanics of Harmony // by Kestrel //------------------------------// MLP FiM The Mechanics of Harmony By: Kestrel Another week in school had passed and the day had finally arrived. Rainbow Dash raced from her last class and booked it out to the bike racks. After mounting up and barely managing to secure her sparse school items in her excitement, she sped on down to the Ponyville battle dome. After biking for a few miles away from the school toward the center of town, she came upon it. The grand dome stood around six stories high. Part of this was because the mechs were each somewhere between twenty and thirty feet tall, but also because the sport had enjoyed an unprecedented surge in popularity since its inception. Tickets sold like crazy, and the audiences for each fight, no matter how impressive the competitors, were packed to the brim. It had also caused lots of smaller businesses around and inside the dome to sprout up, much like at professional sporting locales. Once she had racked her bike and went into the dome, which was open to the public during daylight hours whether there was a fight going or not, she went down to the fighter area. She had never gone down, so she took a deep breath as she started her descent. Each step lower brought her excitement up further, and she elicited little squeals of anticipation and excitement. If anybody heard her, they’d be dead if they talked. As she reached the competitor area, she found the Supreme Steam club of Ponyville congregating in the common area, with Iron Will ready to inaugurate the new season, again. Only it would finally be inaugurated with a fight! “Thank you all for arriving promptly,” he began. “Iron Will is also pleased to announce that all the mechs have been prepped and are ready for battle!” The crowd of students cheered, ready to test their bots. The very first fight of the year had always been decided by lottery. If left to a discussion, then previous seasons had shown that the group would turn into a madhouse. “So, without any further ado, let’s see who’s fighting first!” This was it. Rainbow waited with bated breath. It wasn’t likely that she would be called in the first bout, but it would be amazing if she was. There would be three fights today, and Dash sure as heck wanted to be part of one. Iron Will put his hand into a toolbox filled with ballots on them. Fitting. He took out one of them. “Applejack!” he called out to the crowd. Applejack stood up on her seat and hollered out her approval. She had been in suspense for this too, and she was thrilled to ring in the new season with what she assumed would be her first win. Not if Rainbow was called. She’d show her another one coming. Iron Will drew out another team’s paper slip. “Aloe and Lotus Blossom!” he announced. The girls called let out a cheer. Rainbow was disappointed, but she decided not to let it get her down. She wanted to go first, but she’d be happy if she got to fight today at all. First, last, or somewhere in between. Dash was about to go follow the crowd going to see the fight, but Twilight came out of the crowd and hailed her down before she got too far. Dash was slightly miffed at not being able to go see the fight. But she and Twilight had also agreed to meet if they didn’t get called to look at their mech and get a feel for it. Rainbow could get behind that. The two girls arrived in their team garage, which had been prepared for them with their own tool rack and workbench, and other amenities that they’d need to modify and repair their mech. The mech itself was standing on top of a magical portal capacitor. They’d use these to teleport the mech to and from arenas and the garage. The Rainbow Raider stood proudly on the deck. Painted in bands of color with a blue overtone, it came up to a height of about twenty feet or so. It was a slightly smaller mech than others, but it would certainly be fast. The Raider came equipped with the chakrams she had ordered with her amazing split second decisions. Rainbow thought they looked super cool, but she then realized that she had little idea how to use them effectively. She also saw a sleek looking pack on the back of the machine. Twilight began to explain the design to her partner. “This is the Rainbow Raider! I finished her last night. It’s a pretty great piece of technology,” she started. “It comes equipped with the… chakrams you ordered. In addition, it can also launch small energy shurikens that are meant to interrupt the opponent’s attacks with uneven electrical distributions. That backpack contains pressurized, dense air that has enough capacity to push a burst of air to immediately change your midair trajectory twice before it needs to refill. It’s as close to flight as I could come.” Rainbow stared dumbfounded at the glorious machine. It was everything she had hoped, it was sleek, like her. It was gonna be fast, like her. It was awesome! Like her! She thanked Twilight and gave her a very rare hug, generally only reserved for a couple of people in her life. Twilight made a head motion to the machine. Understanding what she meant, Rainbow went up to the floating platform meant for the pilot and reached the cockpit. She wasted no time in diving into the cockpit. Twilight hit a few buttons on a nearby stand, and a single button labeled ‘ignition’ lit up on the control panel inside the mech. Rainbow hit it, and the machine came to life. The soft, radiant glow of the panels came online and presented a wealth of options for her to choose. Basic mode, combat mode, teleportation options, a systems damage overview, a targeting system, and more. It also had a gauge for the charge capacity of the energy used to supply each subsystem. “Like what you see?” Twilight’s voice came from a radio system. She had her arms crossed across her chest in triumph, satisfaction aglow in her eyes. She had outdone herself, at least in Rainbow’s opinion. This was the single most awesome thing she’d ever done. “Switch to combat mode and try it out on the test area.” Rainbow put her hands on the controls and began to maneuver the mech using controllers that attached to her arms and legs and it caused the calm blue aura of the screens to turn to a sharp red and the magical screens changed from ‘Basic’ to ‘Combat.’ More mechanical whirs and buzzes came to life as the weapon and defense systems charged up. Twilight also saw the final touch come to life as well, a rainbow colored scarf made of magical flames flickered around the backside of the mech in two separate streams. As the Rainbow Raider walked over to the test range, Dash noticed that the mech didn’t actually make a lot of sound, which conflicted what she thought when she imagined how fiercely the mechs fought. With the weapon systems primed, Rainbow took off at a run towards a magically rendered opposing mech. She struck out at it with the chakrams in a martial arts form and used the sharp edges as daggers, utilizing the rounded edge as a kind of curved blade. The dual sided nature of each chakram held some potential for some cool heat of the moment combat maneuvers. As the magic image of the other mech disappeared, small targets materialized far away from her. She decided to try out the energy shurikens, promptly shooting out three very quick shots. The energy gauge on the display in the cockpit dropped to eighty percent. That meant that she could shoot up to fifteen shots before that system was totally drained! Granted, they weren’t very effective, but she could see how useful they could be. “Alright, now try to jump and do some acrobatics,” Twilight’s voice came over the radio. Rainbow decided to start with a simple jump. She lifted off about ten feet into the air using the powerful hydraulic systems in the legs, and touched back down with little break in her momentum. Next, she tried to jump and activate her propulsion system as well. She jumped high into the air and activated the system. The resulting burst of air immediately shifted her over ten feet to the right, the direction she had been leaning in the cockpit. “This is amazing!” Rainbow exclaimed to Twilight. “I can’t wait to try it out!” “Well, there’s one more surprise for you, then,” Twilight replied and smiled. “Iron Will just decided who the last ones to fight today would be. We’re up!” Rainbow let out a gasp, she had been waiting for this. She returned to the teleportation stand and left the mech there. Twilight activated the system to teleport it up to the arena. The pilots and mechanics entered the arena together, greeted the opponents and then got in their mechs to start the bout. Rainbow could hardly contain herself. “So who are we fighting?” Rainbow questioned her partner. “Uh… actually, I forgot.” “Fine, it’ll be a surprise for when we get up there.” As Twilight and Rainbow Dash entered into the arena, they saw only a few people in the crowd, in some of the best seats, which was understandable since this wasn’t an official match or anything in a tournament. However, as always, Fluttershy was there to lend her support. She waved to her friends walking to the hulking machines in the center of the ring. The other team’s mech was the next thing that Rainbow noticed. It was weird… as if she had seen it before, but she could hardly remember it. It was so cliché and done before that Dash just had to roll her eyes. It was a fairly sleek design, with strong looking appendages, and flames painted all over them on the blue overcoat also adorned with lightning bolt decals. It also came equipped with bulky shoulder pads. The entire mech looked like it came out of a graphic novel or comic book. It was so overdone that it was almost laughable. At least it had pretty near flawless paint. Soon enough, Dash was able to recognize the other team: Flash Sentry and Thunderlane. That explained some things. Flash and Thunderlane sure thought they were something, but they had some awful… pedestrian tastes when it came to the awesome. They were wannabe Rainbow Dashes. The two teams met in the middle and stared each other down confidently. “Alright, so we get to fight the newbies, huh?” Flash said. He looked like he meant business, but he was really about the same level as Rainbow and Twilight were. Rainbow Dash huffed at him, seething in sudden anger at Flash for calling her a newbie. She may have been, but she was gonna make him eat those words. “Look, Flash, you and that dull piece of junk are going down! My Rainbow Raider’s gonna smash you guys to pieces!” Rainbow fired back, ready to get to the beat down. Thunderlane flinched back a bit at Rainbow’s comment. Being a part of the soccer team, he knew better than to argue with her. But he also knew how to get into Rainbow’s head a bit. He decided that he’d be better off telling his pilot what he needed to know rather than trash talk the competition. Twilight remained silent through the greeting, looking at the opposing mech. Flash put on his game face. “The Noble Warrior’s gonna slash you to ribbons! You’ll taste the bitterness of defeat on the edge of my epic blade!” Flash exclaimed with an exaggerated swishing motion of his hand. “It’s on!” Dash replied. Both teams went back to their mechs. The pilots made their way up to the cockpits while the mechanics got situated in their respective control boxes, high above the action where they could get a good view of everything in their fights. Twilight gave Rainbow the all-clear and allowed her to start the Raider up. Rainbow pressed the ignition button and the machine roared to life, she switched it to combat mode, and the screen turned yellow, the mode had switched to ‘Combat,’ but the weapon systems and movement were locked until the countdown ended when both fighters were ready. “Rainbow,” Twilight hailed her by radio. “I’m going to be up here walking you through how to fight your enemies. I’ll point out anything I see for their design, like weak points or things to look out for. So listen to me and I can help steer you to victory. You ready?” Rainbow Dash looked up to Twilight’s control tower. It was great that she was willing to help, but she’d done enough. Now it was Rainbow’s time to shine. “Thanks, Twilight. But less talkie, more fightie. I can do this on my own, you just sit back, relax, and watch me own these guys,” Rainbow replied, much to Twilight’s dismay. Twilight knew that Rainbow was brash, but she still wanted to help. Before she could lodge a complaint in with her friend, the countdown to the battle started. “Alright, Twi! Let’s get this started!” Rainbow shouted excitedly. The countdown on the display began to tick down the seconds to the fight from ten. Dash relaxed her muscles and focused on her goal. She’d win and prove how amazing she was, another notch on her totem pole of awesome. Three… Two… One… As the timer clocked out on her display ran out, the word ‘Fight’ appeared. The Noble Warrior took off with a vengeance, drawing its sword and readying a thrusting motion to land the first blow of the match. With adrenaline pumping in her veins, Rainbow maneuvered the Raider to jump back, deftly landing further back as Flash’s mech delivered a vicious slash. As the Raider slid back, Dash received a message from her partner in her watchtower. Rainbow was already shaking and sweating in anticipation and excitement, already pushed into her zone. “Rainbow,” Twilight called out. “How’s the mech running? Is everything working out well? Anyway, I’m pretty sure you’ve noticed by now, but that sword is actually fairly dangerous. It’s got way more reach than you, but there’s an easy way to—“ “Yeah, yeah, Twi, I think it’s pretty obvious. Now let me focus and whip this guy’s butt,” Rainbow cut her off. She wanted to focus, so she turned off her radio in order to not be ripped from her concentration. She shifted her gaze back to her opponent who was once again charging toward her, holding his blade in a strong two-handed grip. Twilight huffed, slammed her face into her command desk in the tower, and started hitting the top of her head with her fist in frustration. This was exactly what she had been afraid of when teaming with Rainbow. As Flash neared Rainbow’s mech, sword drawn, Rainbow took a quick look at his legs. They were tensing up in preparation to jump. As he got ready to jump, Rainbow used her energy shurikens to target the knees of the Noble Warrior. Getting knocked in the leg caused him to stunt his jump, spectacularly landing on his front side, allowing the Raider to strike a strong blow to the Warrior’s back. “Hehehe, that felt good…” Rainbow chuckled to herself, pleased by her quick reflexes and thinking. Her studies in martial arts had paid off, she knew the motions required for most maneuvers. She had just taken advantage of a weak point in a risky move. Flash’s mech let off a few sparks as it suffered the blow, but Flash had some fighting experience from a year or two in the club. He lashed out with a windmill kick from on the ground, flooring the Raider and delivering a slash to its side, catching Rainbow off guard. He followed up by thrusting his blade down to Rainbow’s level, but she quickly executed a dodge roll backward and got to her feet again. Flying after his quarry, he followed up with a side kick, launching the Raider back further once again. As she slid back on the field, Rainbow saw the sparks flying off of the Raider and looked to her status screens. Heavy damage to the left arm, spectacular. If she took too many more free hits, she’d be fighting with only her right, which would put her at a severe disadvantage. Flash gave her no time to strategize as he launched into another series of swipes and slashes at Rainbow, who ducked and jumped out of the way of each one, taking only scratches at best. She had somewhat overestimated how much abuse her mech could take and had to end this quickly. As the Noble Warrior jumped for an overhead cleave, Rainbow rolled under him and created some distance, preparing her own weapons for what would hopefully be the last confrontation. As the two pilots locked eyes and broke into a charge against each other, chakram meeting sword in an epic struggle for the upper hand. The energy flow to the left arm of the Raider had been reduced due to damage from earlier, meaning she couldn’t keep up the clash for too much longer. The Raider had managed to compensate for its slightly weaker physical strength by meeting the blade before Flash was ready giving her an advantage of leverage. But despite Rainbow’s best effort, Flash began to overpower her. Thinking quickly, she decided to shift her mech, pull the blade forward, upsetting the Noble Warrior’s balance, and plant a kick into the torso of the machine, sending it reeling back. Following up on the opening she had forced, Rainbow followed up with multiple quick strikes to Flash Sentry’s mech. One. Two. Three. Four. And with a stronger windup, she let off a powerful uppercut to finish her combo. The Noble Warrior slid along the ground until Flash maneuvered his machine into a handspring and drew his laser gun and let off a few shots, missing the majority, but landing a shot on each of the Rainbow Raider’s shoulders. Rainbow drew out her own launcher and launched her own shots to counter the next incoming volley. Each blast of energy collided in time and created small explosions where they met. Each of the mech continued firing until the energy used to power their ranged weapon systems was completely drained. As they both attempted to fire again, the shots wouldn’t come out and the weapons clicked in denial. Rainbow switched her weapon system back to close combat mode while Flash merely tossed his gun away, clearly having proving he was a badass. Rainbow just laughed at how cocky Flash was. Dash was cocky, but she knew that she could back it up. Flash talked a big game, but he had nothing. Ready for one final assault, she and Flash let out their battle cries and charged each other, weapons in hand. Finally in the zone, Rainbow let her instincts guide her to her target. As they approached, Rainbow jumped, and Flash followed suit, ready to intercept her with a slash. The moment the two met in midair, Rainbow activated her propulsion system and immediately shifted down, grabbing onto the Noble Warrior’s leg, slamming him into the ground. With one last determined strike, she drove the bladed edge of the chakram like a knife through the chest of the opposing mech, until she hit something unfathomably stern. The emergency barrier had been activated, shutting down the functions of the Noble Warrior and symbolizing Rainbow’s victory. She had won her very first match! “Awww, yeah!” she exclaimed with a fist pump within her cockpit as she relished her victory. She turned on her radio once more to talk about her awesome piloting, she was a natural. Nothing could hold her back from her dream now. With a huge smile, Rainbow exited the cockpit and made her way to the ground. There, she met the defeated Flash Sentry. He was still getting up and out of his emergency barrier, the purple glow fading as it registered no more violence was happening in the arena. Flash got up and faced Rainbow with a huge smile plastered to his face. “Wow! That was great! I didn’t think you’d do so well that fast!” Flash exclaimed. “Maybe next time I won’t hold back on you.” Of course, Rainbow knew that for a blowhard like Flash, he had to save face somehow. Sad though it may have been, Rainbow took it for what it was worth. “Yeah, that was a heck of a lot of fun, Flash,” Rainbow replied. The two students were joined by their partners from the control towers. Twilight and Thunderlane came down to congratulate the winner and talk about the match as well. The next twenty minutes or so were passed with a manner of joviality and camaraderie, expressing the spirit of the game. Sure, there had been trash talking at the start, but that’s all it had been: talk. Eventually, the two teams were urged off of the floor so the next match could take place. Flash Sentry and Thunderlane said their goodbyes and left with their machine. As Rainbow quit waving and turned back to her own, she saw Twilight with her arms crossed wearing a very miffed expression. “You want to tell me why you turned off your radio during that fight, Rainbow?” Twilight asked in a rather huffy tone. Rainbow had almost forgotten about that. It wasn’t like she meant it to be mean, but it just wasn’t something she wanted to deal with during the competition. “Sorry, Twi, I just wanted to focus, being a match and all. That stuff’s all good for testing, but I need some alone time when I’m out beating on dorks who think they can beat me is all,” Rainbow replied nonchalantly, earning a hard stare from Twilight. Twilight brought her hand to her head and pushed her index and thumb against it in pure frustration, looking like she was trying to drill a hole through her brain. “Dash! This is a team sport! You need to listen to me!” Twilight shouted at her partner. “If you had, you could have had a much easier time beating them.” “How’s that? I think I did pretty well, myself,” Rainbow replied, crossing her arms confidently and bringing out her trademark smirk. “If you had listened to me instead of turning off the radio, I could have told you that you could have simply snapped off the blade using the chakrams. Then he wouldn’t have had anything to fight with…” Rainbow’s smirk disappeared and was replaced with a look of surprise, which she quickly covered up. Her pride was one of those things that she knew was a problem, but didn’t really care enough about to fix. She had gotten through what she set out to do on her own. So what if there were a few bumps? She didn’t actually need the help. As the two took the elevator down to their garage, not a word was exchanged. Twilight was stewing in her suppressed rage, while Rainbow merely played off her partner’s anger. This created a rather awkward tension in the room, which Dash wished to escape from as soon as was possible. After going down a few stories, the doors finally opened into the hallway to their garage. The girls walked down to their garage together to gather their things. Once they got into their room, Rainbow rushed to pick up all of her items and returned to the door in less than thirty seconds. “Uh… I gotta run! My parents need me for something… uh… something important,” she lied and hastily made her escape, leaving a disgruntled Twilight alone in the workshop. Twilight folded her arms and reclined on the railing near where the mech stood once again, proudly gleaming as if the fight had never happened thanks to the magical repairs that had been automated. After a fight, the mechs were transported back to their respective garages via magic and were reverted to their state before the fight. She looked over her shoulder, brushing her hair out of the way to view the mech. Twilight thought back to earlier when Rainbow had decided to shut her out, making Twilight feel like she was unwanted in the team. She’d show her partner her worth… she’d make sure she knew just how important she could be. Twilight walked over to her tool bench, selecting a wrench and ratchet. She picked up what she felt was required and began moving toward the mech. She was going to give Rainbow a reason to talk to her and listen during the fights. Lecture or no, she was going to be listening this time. She drew out her first tool and began her night’s work.