Home Run had decided to check out the baseball field, following the directions in the school directory. He had found it soon after, seeing some of the other baseball players had already started a game.
“Is that Home Run?” he heard one of the boys say. “It is!”
A few of them waved to him, calling him over to join them.
“Fancy meetin’ ya here out in the field,” Sundown smiled, giving the new boy a pat on the back.
“The field of battle,” Jetstream joked. Sundown and Lightning Rain squinted their eyes towards him. “What? It’s true. Anyway, we haven’t properly introduced you to the Winds yet.”
“Oh,” Home Run started. “Rainbow Dash told me a little about you ‘Winds of Destruction’. She said you guys were quite the team players.”
“She’s right of course,” Jetstream smiled, lifting his chest high. “We’ve built quite the reputation on this baseball team. By the way, you know me and Sundown. You haven’t been formally introduced, but this is Lightning Rain, my star pupil.”
“Who you callin’ a pupil?” Lightning Rain challenged.
“Hey,” Jetstream put his hands up to calm his friend. “I said star.”
“Don’t worry ‘bout them, Homey,” Sundown told the blue haired boy. “These two go way back.”
Jetstream continued to another two members. Home Run remembered one of them. The boy with white hair and a cap. The other was a girl with pink hair. They both wore grey jackets, and after looking close enough, Home Run realized they looked like each other.
“These are Cold Wind and Heavy Wind,” Jetstream continued. “In case you haven’t noticed… they’re twins.”
Heavy Wind looked to him and gave him a big smile. “Ah, I remember you, new kid. You’re pretty fast. Home Run, right? Perfect name for a baseball player.”
“Yes,” Home Run blushed. He’d been getting lots of praises recently. “I try my best when it comes to sports.”
“That’s the spirit,” Cold Wind nodded, folding her arms. “Perhaps you’ll make a good addition to our team.”
Jetstream put an arm around the new kid. “The Wind twins are our base players. Heavy normally takes the second base and Cold normally takes the third base.”
“So, you two are also ‘Winds of Destruction?” Home Run asked, giving them a good smile.
“That’s right,” Cold Wind nodded. “Each of us plays an important part in the team, and we do it well, if I say so myself and for the whole team.”
“Well, Homeboy,” Sundown said, straightening his jacket and spinning a baseball in the air. “We were just about to start a little game. Why don’t ya join us?”
“Yeah, why don’t ya?” Jetstream tried to imitate. “Let’s see how good you can hit.”
Home Run joined the baseball team as they grabbed their equipment from the nearby storage room, grabbing some bats, gloves, and baseballs and dumping them in a cart. Home Run noticed Jetstream and Lightning Rain had brought their own bats, each uniquely coloured and shaped. Jetstream’s was an average build, with a grey bat fading to red near the top. Lightning Rain had a grey slim bat with a blue handle.
Jetstream noticed him looking and gave him a wide grin. “This bat here? This one’s mine. I feel like using my own bat lets me hit better.”
It made sense to Home Run as he pushed the cart of equipment along. “Yeah, I guess you’ll always feel more comfortable with your own gear.”
“Precisely, you’re a sharp one, Home Run,” Jetstream nodded and held his bat out for Home Run to see. “This bat has been in my family for generations. It is one of my greatest treasures. You’ll find this bat to be much better than Lightning’s over there.”
Lightning stared bolts at Jetstream. “Hey! Mine’s definitely better. I prove it on the field every game.”
“Sure, sure,” Jetstream moved his head up and down. “You’re self-taught and not half bad, but like I’ve always told you… your technique lacks something.”
“You two at it again?” Cold Wind intervened, stopping the two players from dueling each other with their bats. “Enough. Let’s start our game.”
The two rivals stared at each other, but eventually, Jetstream widened his smile and carried on, forgetting about the fight that almost happened.
Arriving back at the start of the baseball field, the others got to their positions, while Sundown gave Home Run a bat. “Why don’t ya go first? I wanna see how well ya can hit that.”
“Sure,” Home Run agreed, walking up to the home plate. He was a lefty, so he took his stance on the right of the plate, ready to hit the ball. Sundown arrived at the pitching spot before turning back to face Home Run.
“Here it comes,” Sundown said as he got ready to throw the ball.
With a spin of his arm, he released the ball, sending it flying towards the newest player. Home Run narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the bat. With a neat swing, the ball went sailing into the sky just as he dropped the bat and headed towards first base. Most of the Winds watched the ball, while Lightning Rain made a dash for it. Home Run had hit it far enough, earning himself more than enough time to run through the bases.
“Nice hit, new guy,” Cold Wind told him as he ran past her. “And my brother was right. You’re quite the speedster.”
Home Run’s ball didn’t stop flying, continuing its arc into the sky until it arrived at the bleachers, allowing him to get past third base.
“Hooowie!” Sundown cheered, raising his arms to the sky. “Home Run!”
“Still got it!” Home Run said to himself as he continued down.
Before he could reach fourth base, something metallic dropped from the sky, landing right before Home Run’s eyes. He tried to stop, but it was too late, smashing his whole body against the hot metal.
“Home Run!” Sundown called. “Ya alright? That looked painful.”
Home Run felt the pain all over his body like he just got hit by a train. “I’ll be fine, I hope.”
He looked at the metal object as Sundown helped him up. He recognized it too well. He’d just seen it the day before after all.
“We gotta go,” Home Run told the others, trying to sound as urgent as he could. “Like, right now.”
“What’s up?” Jetstream asked, running over to join the others in looking at the metallic object. “What’s this? Satellite?”
“Satellites don’t look like this, Jetstream,” Lightning Rain sneered.
“You shut your face!” Jetstream shot back.
“Guys!” Home Run said louder, forced to speak up. “We really need to go. You’re not going to believe what’s in there.”
“Try me,” Jetstream grinned, crossing his arms.
Sundown saw the urgency in Home Run’s eyes and barked back at the others. “Do what he says. We’ll ask questions later.”
The pitcher helped Home Run get to the school building while the others followed behind, still looking at the crashed pod.
“What’s that? Aliens?” Jetstream joked.
“Yes,” Home Run replied. “That’s why we’ve got to go. You don’t want to be near them when they come out.”
“Oh, this is sooo going on Neighgag,” Heavy Wind said as he whipped out his phone for a picture.
“Not now, Heavy!” his sister scolded. “They could be dangerous!”
“C’mon, it’s only a quick picture!” he pleaded. “Imagine the amount of views I’d get for this!”
“Stop ya lollygagging!” Sundown shouted from the front. “Do what yer sister tells ya! She’s bein’ smarter at the moment. No one’s dyin’ here on mah watch!”
“Fine, fine…” Heavy sighed and stowed his phone.
The baseball players got inside the school just as the pod began to open. The first Grineer stepped out, quickly scanning its surroundings with his gun.
“Now can I take a picture?” Heavy Wind asked nicely, bringing out his phone.
“I guess it’s fine,” Cold Wind answered.
Sundown set Home Run down against the wall to check on him. “What in the name of Hilly Billy Goat’s donkey crackers! Those bruises look pretty darn painful.”
Home Run looked at himself and then back at the others. “Wouldn’t have guessed myself. I mean… running at full speed into a huge metal pod?”
“Yeah, and you sure run fast,” Cold Wind told him again.
“Ya ever heard of ‘The Guy’?” Sundown asked the new student.
“What guy?” Home Run asked as he sat there.
“The Guy,” Sundown emphasized. “A legendary baseball player that ran like an ocelot. Which is really fast.”
“During one of the championships a long time ago, he kept switching teams,” Jetstream interrupted, walking up to the blue-skinned boy. “He changed teams so often that everyone forgot which team he was playing for. I’m not sure if he even know himself.”
“Don’t forget the bat spinning,” Sundown added.
“Right,” Jetstream remembered, waving a hand in the air. “He used to spin his bat after every hit, taking his time to move along after sending the ball flying. You kinda remind me of that guy. Fast. You’re not half bad yourself.”
Home Run was going to say how good a baseball player that ‘ocelot’ was, but a flash stopped his train of thought. Everyone turned to Heavy Wind, looking at him with his phone.
“Did you leave your flash on?” Lightning Rain asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Yeah, my bad,” Heavy Wind admitted, checking out the photo. “But I don’t think they noticed me.”
Sundown walked over to the window just in time to see one of the Grineer point their fingers towards the school. “I think they noticed you.”
“Good work, Heavy…” Lightning sighed, resisting the urge to smack himself in the face with his palm.
“We’ve got to move,” Home Run said, trying to get up. Sundown moved over to help him up. “These Grineer… they don’t play nice. It’s better if we get as far away from them as possible.”
“Grineer?” Jetstream asked. “That sounds pretty dumb. We can take them. Just give Lightning Rain and I our bats, and we’ll-”
“Are you crazy?” Sundown shouted at the green-skinned boy. “You’ll get yourselves killed!”
They looked out the window as they started to move deeper into the school, but stopped. The Grineer had stopped in their tracks and were facing a different direction.
“Why did they stop?” Jetstream said out loud as he headed back to the window.
Rainbow Dash was the first to spot the Grineer as she left the portal. “Over there! We gotta stop them before they… wreck the school or something!”
“Chaaarge!” Pinkie screamed, running straight for the Grineer’s location.
The four Grineer on the baseball field turned their heads to see the Warframes running towards them. One pointed at them as all four opened fire, forcing the Rainbooms behind the wall.
“Nice work, Twilight Sparkle,” Nyx complimented. “Perhaps if you had thought of a plan before letting your friends charge in, we would have already taken down these simple Grineer.”
Twilight frowned, but said nothing. Now wasn’t the time for quarreling. They had to stop the Grineer before they could hurt anyone.
“What are we waiting for?” Rainbow asked impatiently. “I can take this!”
She gathered her energy, creating a small whirlwind around her. She squatted down and with a huge jump, launched herself up into the air, and using her small wings, glided around the Grineer aiming her guns at them and shooting. Some of the bullets connected with the Grineer armor, but most missed and smashed into the dirt around the aliens.
“Get some!” Rainbow whooped as she kept to the skies.
Applejack tried to get close to the Grineer to punch them, but after taking a few steps, she realized she was moving a lot slower than usual. “Uhh… Rhino? Why am ah movin’ so slowly?”
“Oh, my fault. My Warframe is built for defense, not movement speed. You’ll be able to soak up more hits, but you’re not going to be fast.”
“Ya could have told me that before ah started runnin’!” she complained as she got back behind cover after taking a few bullets to her Frame. “Fluttershy! Be good if ya gave me some healin’!”
That’s when Applejack turned to her pink haired friend. She was squatting in a corner, shaking. Her hands were over her head and she was facing her back to the enemy.
“Fluttershy!” Applejack called again.
“No…” Fluttershy mumbled. “I-I can’t!”
Pinkie spawned copies of herself and fired at the Grineer, most of her bullets going wide from the boar’s recoil. “Wow! This thing’s pretty strong!”
Sunset Shimmer aimed her glaxion at one of the Grineer and fired. A steady stream of cold shot out towards him, icing his foot. The startled Grineer looked up and fired back at Sunset, forcing her back. As she moved back, she realized her beam was no longer touching the Grineer.
“Sunset Shimmer,” Ember spoke. “The glaxion is a short range weapon. You’ll have to get closer.”
“Not when he’s shooting at me,” Sunset informed, heading back behind cover. “Can your fire skills reach that far?”
“Of course. Let’s burn some!”
Sunset primed her energy pool and created a ball of fire in her hands. After turning into a she-demon and everything, she didn’t particularly want to play with fire again, but here, she had no choice. She aimed at the Grineer she partially iced and threw the fireball straight for him. It fell short, but hit him in the leg, shattering the ice and setting part of the soldier on fire.
Sunset retreated back behind the wall, afraid of what she had just done.
“Sunset,” Applejack called. “What’s wrong?”
Sunset sat down and shivered. “I… I just took a guy’s leg off…”
“You have no choice, Sunset Shimmer,” Ember began. “It’s either them, or us. The Lotus has already explained it to you. If you don’t fight back, a lot of humans will die.”
Sunset understood the need for fighting, but still didn’t like the things she had to do.
“Gaah!” the Grineer shouted as he looked down to his shattered leg.
“Now, Twilight Sparkle,” Nyx hastened her companion. “While he’s distracted. Show me what you’ve got. Shoot him. Take him down!”
Twilight aimed her sybaris at the crippled Grineer. She dreaded the thought of sending a bullet through someone’s head, but she steeled herself and fired. Her bullets completely missed.
“You missed. As expected though. If it wasn’t for gravity, you wouldn’t even be able to hit the ground.”
“Not now, Nyx!” Twilight warned, still trying her luck at hitting the Grineer, missing all her shots.
Soon, she heard her gun click empty.
“Silly Twilight Sparkle. Look at that. Now you’ve run out of bullets.”
“Well, what else can I do?” Twilight said, starting to panic. “Skills? Magic? I’m sure you have some magic.”
“If you would consider that magic. I don’t know. You’ve proven that you’re incapable of anything I’ve presented to you.”
“We can’t let the Grineer win!” Twilight reasoned. “What do I do?”
“Very well. This Warframe has the ability to mind control an enemy. Just focus your energy on a target and fire. You’ll see the effect taking place immediately.”
Twilight concentrated, focusing her energy pool. Soon, she found green energy snaking around her hand. Pointing it towards the nearest Grineer, she fired it, sending the green energy towards Applejack. Soon, her friend was flailing around and running in circles out of cover, allowing the Grineer to pelt her Warframe with bullets.
“What in the hay is goin’ on?” she shouted in alarm as bullets attacked her shields. “Fluttershy! Could really use some healin’ now!”
“Sorry, Applejack!” Twilight called. “I accidentally hit you with some mind control thing.”
“What?” Applejack questioned. “Well, stop using it!”
Twilight tried to figure out how to cancel her mind control, but no matter what she tried, Applejack continued running in circles. “Nyx! How do I stop the mind control?”
Nyx let out a huge sigh. “Just relinquish control of your energy pool… Twilight Sparkle. You really are quite an inconvenience for me.”
Twilight downed her energy, dissipating her green energy and the mind control of Applejack. She ran as fast as she could back behind cover as the bullets tore through her shields.
“Fluttershy!” Applejack called again. “You there?”
The meek girl turned to look at her friend, but remained frozen in her spot. “I-I’m s-sorry…”
Rarity thought she should do something, pulling out her paris and pointing it at the Grineer. She reached behind, but couldn’t seem to find her arrows.
“Mag?” she asked as she grabbed around. “Where are the arrows?”
“higher. To your left.”
“Ah, thank you,” she said as she grabbed on to one.
Then Rarity realized something else. Her bow didn’t have a string. She thought she was seeing things at first, moving her hand around to feel for it. She still couldn’t find the string.
“Uhh… Mag?” she asked her partner again. “Could you perhaps tell me what happened to the string of this fine weapon?”
“Ah, that’s where the best part of the weapon comes in! The bow uses a magnetic field instead of a string. Try it out! Just pretend there’s a string there and pull the arrow back!”
Rarity put the arrow she was holding in between the two prongs of the paris. She found it hard to pull back, using more strength to get it towards her. Losing her grip, the arrow punched forward at a high speed, impaling itself in one of the Grineer, piercing through his green armor.
“Agh!” the Grineer spat as the arrow pierced his organs. He grabbed for it, but fell before he could pull it out.
“Nice shot, Rarity!”
“Umm…” she said, thinking whether she should tell Mag it was an accident or not. “Yes! Right. Lucky shot, I guess.”
“Do it again.”
Rarity gulped hard. “I’ll do my best, but I’m promising anything.”
She aimed her bow again as Sunset decided to move closer to the enemy.
“Rainbow!” Sunset called to her friend. “I need some cover fire, I’m gonna try to get close!”
Sunset sprinted out, ready to ice the Grineer down, but no bullets from Rainbow came, meaning that the Grineer wouldn’t be taking any defensive positions. They saw Sunset and fired at her.
“Get to cover, Sunset Shimmer! You’re losing armor!”
Sunset abandoned her plan and ran as fast as she could back to her hiding place, throwing a fireball behind her to cover her escape. She returned to Rainbow’s position, seeing her friend still behind the wall.
“Rainbow!” Sunset frowned within the helmet. “I told you to cover me!”
Rainbow lifted her guns for Sunset to see. “Out of bullets.”
“What?” Sunset said in disbelief. “Already? We’ve only taken down one so far.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Hey, when you’re flying up there, it’s hard to hit anything.”
Pinkie and her clones moved forward, blasting her shotgun across the area, a few pellets hitting the Grineer, and Rainbow, just as she leapt off the ground.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow shouted as she lost her momentum, plummeting to the ground.
“Sorry!” Pinkie called, still trying to hit the Grineer. One of her pellets landed home, hitting the Grineer Sunset had crippled, in the head. His body flew back and hit the ground as he stopped moving.
Sunset stood to cheer, raising both arms in the air, but got interrupted when Rainbow landed on her, forcing her to the ground. Her finger instinctively held down the trigger for the glaxion, sending a stream of ice towards Rarity.
“Waaagh!” the violet haired girl screamed as her Warframe started being encased in ice.
“Sorry!” Sunset apologized after releasing the trigger.
Before getting iced, Rarity had let go of the arrow, launching it once again towards the Grineer. By some luck and magnetic force, the arrow went straight down the Grineer’s firearm, destroying its chamber. The alien dropped it, pulled out a shock stick, and made a face of rage.
“I’m comin’ back!” Applejack shouted from her piece of cover, heading back towards the rest of the Rainbooms. “Rhino, isn’t there that charge ability or somethin’?”
“Yes. Tap into your energy. It’ll allow you to charge forward at a high speed, knocking down anything or anyone in your path.”
“Sweet,” Applejack grinned. “Time to test it out.”
The cowgirl activated her energy, coursing energy through her Warframe. With a short pause, she dashed forward, ripping a bush out of the ground as she moved by.
“Sorry partner!” she shouted back to the inanimate plant. “Didn’t see ya there!”
There was a startling shout in front of Applejack, taking her attention back to the front. It was Twilight, standing about two inches in front of her.
“Stop!” she cried, just as Applejack slammed right into her, sending her flying back a few feet. “Gah!”
The lavender-skinned girl landed on the ground and stayed still.
“Sorry, Twi!” she called, then talked to Rhino. “How do ya stop this thing!”
“You can’t really. You’ve got to slow down first. It’s all up to you. Just pretend you’re running. Stop yourself naturally.”
Applejack slowed her pace, feeling the speed force around her dissipate. She shortly came to a halt, stopping close to the front lawn of the school, right in front of the statue. “Phew… Close one.”
She turned back to look at her friends. Three of them lay on the ground, one stood frozen by ice, and one hid in a corner, refusing to fight. Only she and Pinkie Pie were standing. It was now two on two.
“Guess it’s you and me, Pinkie,” Applejack said, joining her friend behind the wall to the baseball field.
“Nope!” Pinkie said loudly, showing Applejack her gun. “No bullets! I’m going to join Fluttershy!”
“Oh…” Applejack sighed. “Great. Guess it’s just me.”
“Don’t forget me,” Rhino added.
She looked back to the two remaining Grineer. One lost his gun, but the other still had one. Things were definitely not looking great.