Armored Core: A Nine Breaker's Ponies

by Xymeiu


[CH 2] Odd Circumstances

Leos Klein, legendary Raven and pilot of a metal fighting machine that stands just above the treeline, watched as two alicorns flew up to his armored core, landed on the core, and gave one of the most comedic expressions of bewilderment he has ever seen in his career. He kept a straight face to the best of his ability, succeeding in the process. Long moments pass as the three completely different beings held an unofficial staring contest in the dead silence. He grew tired of this quickly and slowly raised his arms to attempt to show non-hostility.

"I come in peace," he said in the calmest tone he could muster, one without timidity or hate. Another long pause of deafening silence. Upon closer observation of the two in front of him, he assumed they were both royalty, judging by the crowns, hoof boots, and necklaces, or so he called them. White and dark blue pegasi hovered around him, which he assumed were the authority of the area. One half were dark blue to black with armor matching the colors of the dark alicorn, flying with bat wings for some reason. The others were a bright white with gold armor plating, to which Klein guessed were for show knowing that gold is not the strongest material for equipment.

"I may have dimension jumped," he started again, "and would like information of the surrounding area." He lifted up the visor on his helmet, mentally slapping himself for forgetting and hoping they understand what he is saying. More staring and silence. Finally, one of them broke from their trance, the white alicorn, and the silence was finally filled with a different voice.

"What and who are you?" she asked in a majestic authoritative tone matching her crown. This one phrase broke the other equine from her trance as well. Obvious due to the fact that she shook her head to regain her senses.

Talking horses with logic defying manes and tails originating from ancient mythology. What more can there be in this world? he thought. "My name is Leos Klein, part of the human race and pilot of an armored core combat unit," he said as he shifted in his seat. His arms were becoming increasingly tired and had started to become numb from lack of blood flow. He gave up trying to keep his arms raised and slowly lowered them onto his lap. He saw the flying pegasi getting antsy, as if he was not already suspicious enough.

The white pony motioned for her other behind her to approach and whispered something into her ear before ascending into the air to regroup the others that Leos almost forgot about. The launch blew a gathering of dust in the pilot's direction forcing him to squint in order to avoid having his eyes bombarded by the cloud of dust. All who remained were the Raven, a dark pony, and flying guards, or so he dubbed them for their similarities to the two in front that became one. Leos had to break the silence with one worry he had to have outspoken.

"If I may, your Highness," he started, showing respect for royalty to attempt to strengthen his first impression on the others, "I would like to know if your populace has ever encountered something like this. I would much rather not cause an uproar and state of mass panic if I am to stay here. They closed the inter-dimensional portal I arrived in, and I was warned that it was going to be a one-way trip." This caught the royal pony off-guard. She probably never expected this, the Raven assumed. She had her head tilted and was gazing off toward the sky, a common gesture of deep thought.

She thought for what seemed like forever until she finally returned her focus towards the foreign being. "We could let you stay at the castle," she started as her white other returned with two more pegasi, one a bright cyan sporting a rainbow mane and tail while the other was an equally bright yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail. The latter took a glance at the Raven and immediately hid her face behind her mane. The bright blue pony, on the other hand, was flying around the black combat unit inspecting every piece of it. She gave bursts of speed, leaving behind a rainbow trail and stopping only to look at the mechanical foreigner. Leos could hear her saying something, but at a pace too fast for him to keep up with, so he simply gave up trying.

His attempts to follow the rainbow blur went unsuccessful as the white alicorn walked back onto the core slightly above Leos, her golden hoof boots clacking against metal once again. "I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna," she started in her majestic tone. "Luna told me of your predicament, and I will allow her decision for you to stay at the castle. I will have to take you in for questioning, though. As for this... thing," she tapped the AC's core with her hoof, "I am at a loss for what to do with it." Princess Luna nudged her sister, gaining her attention.

"We could put it in the statue section and hope that none find out about it, whatever this is," she offered. Celestia just stared, to which Klein again assumed was her thinking over the idea of the over sized fighting machine being posed as a statue. Leos thought about rejecting the idea, but declined the decision to reject the offer.

"Not a bad idea," she said after a short pause, "but how will we move this, unless our newcomer can somehow." She directed her attention to Leos, who was doing busy stretching and yawning to notice the sign for a few moments. He finally caught it soon enough.

"Alright, I'll start this thing up. I'm going to have to put this into combat mode before I can start moving quickly, so you'll need to get off," he said as he lifted the cover to the green button he used to eject. The button clicked on contact with his hand, and the princesses lifted off to watch the scene before them.

▬♦▬♦▬

Princess Luna took to the air in front of the large bipedal object as the back piece she had seen the 'human' in disappeared into the rest of the machine. The middle of the head that she was standing next to flashed a bright red briefly before relenting and shrinking into a dot that she saw earlier when she first examined the machine. The head turned to look at the two royal alicorns that hovered in front of it before looking around like it had the first time.

She pointed in the direction of her home and capital of the sisters' nation, Canterlot. She watched as the two legs the machine stood upon bent and leaped into the air. Higher than she ever expected it to be able to. From below, she saw two large objects stationed on the back of the centerpiece behind the shoulders. One a long, folded, three-pronged open tube and the other being a white box. Both stood out from the airborne object with their white paint scheme.

Two thin jets of white fire erupted from the back accompanied by a high pitched whine. Suddenly, with a loud, explosive boom, the figure launched toward the floating gathering of lights that was the capital. Everyone stood still and flying pegasi just stared mouth agape. A bipedal being taller than trees, as wide as a house, and made completely of metal had just sped past them, blowing their minds one by one. The once visible black machine quickly became one large light that staggered itself, disappearing into the night each time it died out briefly reminiscent of a firefly.