//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: It's the Grineer // Story: A Rift Between Worlds // by Cinders of War //------------------------------// “Not bad, Homey,” Sunset said as she took another bite from her cucumber sandwich. "Didn't think you would be able to pull that off." "Yeah!" Rainbow agreed. "All that wind? That was awesome! Wish I could do that!" "Oh it was nothing," Home Run admitted, chewing on his beef burger. "I just did what Vauban told me. I'm sorry I hit you so hard though." “I told you, don’t worry about it,” Sunset restated. “The Warframe took most of the impact. I’m fine.” Home Run raised an eyebrow. “Only most of the impact? Then how about the rest of it?” “It’s fine, Home Run,” Sunset said again. “I can handle it. What good am I if I can’t handle a little pain?” “We can always get Fluttershy in,” Rainbow suggested. “Although… maybe you can use Home Run as the target for healing yourself.” “Really, guys. I’m fine. I can handle this. Can’t be more painful than the Fall Formal, right?” “What Fall Formal?” Home Run asked, never hearing those words before. "Umm..." Sunset looked to Rainbow. "I... took a fall there. It hurt. Yeah.” she ended with an unconvincing chuckle. "I... see." Home Run scratched his head, also unconvinced with Sunset's answer. "So... this fall... it must have really hurt if it was worse than my hammer...?" “Yeah… look, you mind if we change the subject? I’d rather not think about the Formal right now.” “Sure,” Home Run shrugged. If Sunset wanted him to know, she would have told him. “So what did you do over the break?” “Nothing!” Rainbow and Sunset said simultaneously. “Nothing happened over break. At all.” "Uhh... nothing?" Home Run paused. "Is there anything you guys do want to talk about?” "Well..." Sunset pondered. "How was your first week at school? How does it compare to your old school?” "Oh... uhm... It's been... average actually. My old school was okay. I had classes, I played baseball, I... well..." "What?" Rainbow interrupted. "What else?" Home Run contemplated telling them more, eventually settling on doing so. If he wanted them to trust him, he’d have to start on his end. “Well, before I start, I’m going to warn you: my life hasn’t exactly been a thrill ride. I just used to captain the FSS Mustangs baseball team until I got hurt during the semi-final game and couldn’t play. Then I moved here shortly after that.” “Did you win the championship?” Sunset asked. “Sadly, no.” The disgrace was too much for him and he looked away from his friends. “I don’t even remember who the other team was, just that we lost, but I’ll never forget the game for the rest of my life.” “That’s rough, buddy,” Rainbow muttered, downing her entire soda in one gulp. Home Run closed his eyes. “I just… I was useless for that game. If I had been more careful, maybe we would have won. If… if I just hadn’t pushed myself so hard, maybe I would have been able to help my team win. But I failed them. I failed myself.” “Come here man,” Rainbow offered, and wrapped Home Run in a hug. “You’ll do better next time. I know you will. You have me and the Winds on the team this time, and we’re pretty awesome.” “O-kay…” Sunset edged away from both the athletes, looking rather concerned. “You know you don’t have to go on if you don’t want to.” “No, Sunset. I gotta get this off my chest now, or I’ll never be free. After the game, I resigned as captain. I already knew I was moving, so that last championship was my last chance to win it for my team. And I blew it. I’m a disgrace.” The door of Sugarcube Corner opened, and a girl with pink and red striped hair peeked in, saw the scene and quickly retreated. Sunset rolled her eyes. “You know you’re scaring off the business here guys?” she said quietly. “And besides, it’s just a game.” “It is not just a game!” Rainbow exploded, jumping up and knocking over her chair. “How can you say that? It’s his pride and honor at stake here. Like, how you felt after the Fall- never mind,” she cut herself off and took a large bite of food. “You’re really pushing it,” Sunset grumbled. “Anyway, we should get going, I told Fluttershy that I’d help her out with… what is that?” The three of them looked out the window as the bright sun was blocked out by an ominous, dark shape. It slowly moved through the air, slower than any conventional aircraft. There was something wrong about it; something that big and unaerodynamic should not have been allowed to fly, but there it was. "It must be the Grineer," Home Run speculated. The three of them quickly left the cafe and moved to a dark alley before equipping their Warframes. "Vauban, what is that?" "That, Home Run, is a Grineer galleon. Second only to the fomorian class ships, the galleons are used by all divisions of the grineer military. A ship that size will likely have between a hundred to three hundred Grineer aboard. We should find an archwing before it manages to land.” "What's an archwing?" Home Run questioned. "Nevermind. We can't get one anyway." Princess Celestia's face appeared on the side of their HUDs as they tried to figure out what to do about the galleon. "Pilots. We have trouble. It's the Grineer." Rainbow mouthed the words, "You don't say" before realizing the others couldn't see her mouth. Celestia continued. "They plan to build a gate to access Equestria. I'd thought we had slowed them down, but I was wrong. You have to get there and stop them." "Let's fly!" Rainbow shouted and took off in the sky. "I'll see what I can do to slow them down!" Rainbow headed up to the galleon as Sunset and Home Run ran along underneath it. She approached the bottom of the massive ship; a tiny speck compared to the galleon. “Rainbow Dash,” Zephyr spoke. “I don’t think this is a good idea. Your weapons are not effective against a ship of that size.” “I’m gonna try, at least,” Rainbow continued, flying close enough to touch the ship. She pulled out her akstilettos, firing them at the underside of the ship. The bullets pinged harmlessly off the metal, doing nothing but putting dents that were hardly visible to the eye. The Rainbow girl didn’t give up, instead continuing to fly around the bottom, trying to punch through with her fists after blasting towards the ship with her tailwind. “Rainbow Dash, your energy is running low. We have to land and confront the Grineer on the ground. The hull of that ship is impregnable with our current armaments. If only we had a velocitus…” “Fine,” Rainbow surrendered, heading back to join Home Run and Sunset. The two of them were still running behind the galleon, cars and pedestrians stopping and staring up at the flying beast. Sunset hurled a fireball upward, but it fizzled out before it could even get close. “Nothing’s working!” Sunset lamented. “How do you stop this thing?” “You have no choice but to stop the Grineer when they land,” Celestia briefed. “You cannot let them finish the gate.” “You mean we gotta take on three hundred Grineer all on our own?” Home Run panted into his helmet. “I’ve already rallied Excalibur; he’ll meet you there. I’m tracking the rest of your team converging on the school. I’ll try to keep the battleground as isolated as possible. Good luck, pilots.” Rainbow landed to join her two friends. “Guess we should just head for school then?” “Yeah… nothing more we can do,” Sunset shrugged. “But, we can head to school and set up before they get there. Maybe put up some barricades and cover for ourselves.” “Sounds like a plan,” Home Run agreed. “Vauban has a lot of fantastic ideas for traps.” “Then let’s not waste anymore time!” Rainbow said and took off in a gust of wind. “Guess we better follow her,” Sunset chuckled as the two of them started their run. Excalibur arrived at the baseball field at Canterlot High, knowing the Grineer would be settling down here to build their gate. No matter what, he couldn’t let that happen. “Seems our plans were of waste,” Excalibur said to his pilot. “It must have been the void key. It has unmeasurable power.” “Doesn’t matter now,” his pilot replied, drawing the skana. “What matters is we stop them here.” He waited in the middle of the field as the galleon slowly approached. Suddenly, four pods left the underside of the galleon, heading down into the streets of Canterlot. “What was that?” he asked. “A diversion?” “Possibly. Or it could be Vor himself. What is your decision?” “It’s only a small force.” The Excalibur spun the skana in his grip before holding it up. “We should stay here. The main force will be arriving. We need to stay here, hold our ground once the main assault wave hits us. These guys don’t take hostages.” “Good. Exactly my thoughts.” Excalibur waited as the galleon continued to make its way towards the field, unable to do anything until the ship arrived. “Quickly!” he heard a voice say. “The ship’s almost to the school!” The pilot turned his head as a group of the kids ran into the field, their attention still focused on the galleon. “Can your arrows do anythin’ about it, Rarity?” the Rhino asked. “Worth a shot,” the Mag replied, taking her paris off her back. “I see what you did there!” the Mirage said out of nowhere, pulling out her boar shotgun. “Good, the Lotus sent reinforcements. Looks like you won’t have to face them alone.” “Guess it’s time to talk to them,” Excalibur shrugged and headed towards the other Warframes. The pink haired one turned to see him approaching them and signaled her friends. “Guys! It’s the Excalibur! Maybe he needs something? Maybe he wants to help us? Maybe he wants to show us who he really is? Ooh, is it Flash Sentry? How about Rainbow Dash?” “I’m not even going to try explaining how that wouldn’t make sense...” Twilight facepalmed. “Can’t be Flash, Pinkie,” the Rhino told her friend. “He’s much taller than Flash.” "Kids," Excalibur greeted, finally talking to them. He headed to Twilight and knelt again. "Princess." “You know each other?” The others looked at Twilight and Excalibur in surprise. "Umm..." Twilight said uncertainly. "He seems to know me. Umm... may I ask? Who are you?" "He's totally Flash Sentry right?" Pinkie Pie said again. "Who else would kneel to Twilight?" “Anyone from Equestria?” the one in the Trinity Warframe offered. "It doesn't matter now," Excalibur interrupted, wishing them to focus on the invasion. "Here's what I need you all to do. We're going to set up a little ambush for the Grineer." He pointed to Twilight and the Mag. "Princess Twilight and... Rarity. You should take the high ground. Maybe the school roof. Your weapons will be more use at a range. The rest of you, you’re with me. We'll take care of the force while the two of them provide fire from above." The other three girls waited with him as the galleon finally settled close enough. At least a dozen drop pods descendent from the galleon, smashing into the earth, damaging the field again. "Here they come," Excalibur warned, bringing the skana to his head level. The pods opened, with Grineer quickly filing out and getting into shooting positions. Excalibur acted first, jamming his sword into the ground, spearing the whole front row with a radial javelin. "Woah nelly..." Applejack muttered, instinctively putting a hand on her hat. Pinkie spawned clones of herself and fired away at the Grineer exiting the pod. Many fell, but the others managed to take cover from her pellets. One Grineer trooper stood up to take a shot at the pink menace, but got an arrow to the chest instead. “Thanks, Rarity!” Pinkie waved. Fluttershy hung back behind a bush, cringing every time a bullet whizzed past her face. On occasion, she would tag an enemy with her skill, prompting everyone to fire on the unfortunate Grineer and replenish their health. Rarity and Twilight fired on the Grineer from above with their ranged weapons. Rarity was doing a fine job of hitting targets, while Twilight looked like she was having a big argument with Nyx after every shot, although she did manage to hit a few Grineer soldiers. “Aim lower. Compensate for the recoil. Don’t stick your head out while reloading, you fool!”Nyx chastised. “I don’t want you to die before you can fulfill your promise of showing me what you can do.” “I’m trying, Nyx!” Twilight said as she managed to take down another Grineer with a few body shots. “And I have gotten better. I’m hitting targets now.” Twilight quickly fired off a mind control as a Grineer butcher tried to slash Fluttershy. She got the butcher to run back to the frontlines to attack his brethren. “Not bad, I suppose...” Nyx grudgingly admitted. “Just make sure you don’t forget about the other enemies while you watch that one.” “What was that, Nyx?” Twilight joked as she returned to shooting the Grineer under her. “Was that a compliment?” “It was a carrot. Now get back to the firefight or I’ll go back to the stick.” “You got it, Nyx,” Twilight smiled, taking down another lancer with her sybaris. Excalibur and Applejack fought in the frontlines, bashing and slashing away at the Grineer’s armor as they pushed closer to the pods. The Lotus buzzed in, giving them the warning,“You’ve been seen. Ready your weapons”, although nobody paid much attention by that point. “So uhh… Excalibur,” Applejack started as she hit a Grineer in the abdomen with one of her furax’s. “Care to tell us who ya really are?” They spun around each other as if dancing, Applejack punching a trooper’s face in while Excalibur stabbed past her face at a Grineer scorch. His movements were precise and lethal, like he had been doing this for years. “We may not all survive this,” Excalibur’s pilot muttered as he cleaved an enemy into two before blinding the rest. “But if we make it through this, perhaps I’ll tell you.” “Makes sense,” the farm girl replied, a little disappointed that she couldn’t find out now. She activated a charge and dashed through three lancers as Excalibur dashed through a commander. She whistled as they both skidded to a stop. “Yer something else, you know that? How come y’all have all those powers? Ah think the rest of us only got one each.” Excalibur slashed in a circle, cutting down three lancers, much to the disgust of Applejack. “I’ve been around much longer with Excalibur. We’ve developed what you would call a Maximum Drift. Your Warframes just woke up and they roughly just met you. They don’t have enough energy and sync to utilize their full potential just yet.” “Uhh…” Applejack tried to comprehend. “Rhino, what’s he mean by that?” “The deeper the bond, the better you fight, I suppose. Oh, and also, if you happen to get the Lotus the second void key, then we’ll have the energy to access all our powers.” “Ah, that’s more simple.” “Watch it,” Excalibur warned, throwing his skana past Applejack. She turned just in time to see a black-armored Grineer go down, the skana in his chest. “Manics.” “Manics?” Applejack asked. “Ya mean maniacs?” “No. Manics.” The Excalibur punched a Grineer in the face, cracking its face plate before leaping over it to grab his blade. He returned backwards, stabbing the sword into the Grineer’s back without looking. “Nasty little guys. Fast, invisible, and can rip through a Warframe like paper. Watch your back. There aren’t many of them, but don’t drop your guard. Just listen for the laughter.” “Woah, sure. Ah’ll make sure to keep an eye an’ ear out,” Applejack nodded before dashing through another crowd of lancers. A trooper advanced on her, but got an arrow to the knee, forcing it to the ground. Its shout alerted Applejack, who turned around and gave it a fist to the face. She looked up and waved her thanks to Rarity before returning to combat. “Good hit, Rarity,” Mag lauded. “I must say, you have quite the skill with the bow. You haven’t even used my abilities once.” “Why thank you, Mag. Though I must admit I forgot about your ability. What does it do?” Mag was silent for a moment. “It’s called pull. You can use it to get enemies closer to you, or down on their faces.” “I might as well try it,” Rarity said reasonably. “No harm in trying.” She activated her energy pool and whipped her hand backwards as energy flowed out. Two lancers under her location immediately flew up towards her. After ascending high enough, gravity pulled them back to the ground. The fall didn’t kill them, but Pinkie did. “Hey Rarity!” Twilight called. “That was awesome! Didn’t know you had that.” “Me neither,” she admitted. “Mag just informed me.” A storm of bullets flew up at them, forcing the two girls to duck behind the edge. Two Grineer heavy gunners stood under them, firing a whole stream of bullets up to the rooftops. “We need some help!” Rarity panicked. Twilight leaned over to look, taking a bullet to her helmet. Her shields held up, but she could still feel the small impact near her forehead. “Careful, Twilight Sparkless!” Nyx scolded again. “You’ll not dirty my Warframe’s insides with your empty brains.” “Come on, Nyx,” Twilight retorted. “And I thought you were becoming nicer.” “True, you are getting better, but I will still make sure I reprimand you whenever you do dumb things like setting yourself up for target practice.” “Fair enough,” Twilight agreed. Suddenly, the gunfire stopped. She looked down to see Fluttershy standing over the fallen bodies of the gunners, her staff in her hands. “I’m so sorry!” she was saying to the Grineer. “I-I didn’t want to do it, but you were hurting my friends. I just… Please don’t hurt my friends…” “Fluttershy?” Twilight said, trying to convince herself that it was the shy girl in front of her and not anyone else. “Fluttershy?” Rarity said the same thing. “Is that…? Did she…?” “I believe so, Rarity. I think that Fluttershy there has learnt that fighting is necessary if you want to protect the ones you care about.” Twilight was still trying to believe it when a Grineer caught her eye. It was a flameblade, slowly approaching the timid girl, still apologizing to the downed gunners. “Fluttershy! Look out! Watch your back!” Fluttershy turned around as the flameblade walked closer, uttering a single ‘eep’ before tripping backwards over one of the heavy gunners. As it raised its blade, the flameblade also found an arrow, sticking out of its chest. It coughed once, grabbed for its chest and the arrow, then fell over and stopped moving. Fluttershy looked above to her friends. “T-thanks, Rarity.” “Don’t mention it, Fluttershy,” she answered. “Do be more careful.” Fluttershy’s partner had more to add. “That’s how you work, Fluttershy! Now you understand. When you have to fight, you have to fight.” "Well..." she started, but didn't have anymore to say after that. Excalibur and Applejack had taken down most of the Grineer that hung around the pods while the others cleared the Grineer behind. Excalibur continued cutting his way through the ranks while Applejack caved in the armor of the soldiers as they approached her. One butcher got a lucky slash at Applejack, breaking her shields and cutting a dent into Rhino's Frame. "Aah!" she shouted in surprise. She smashed the Grineer in the face before checking the cut, failing to see a trooper pointing his shotgun at her. She looked up just as he fired, knocking her to the ground with the impact. "Oof! What in tarnation?" "Careful, Applejack! My armor's compromised. Don't let him hit you!" The Warframe took most of the blow, but it still felt like a car had just driven into her. It stood over her, ready to finish her, but two pink haired Mirage's charged the Grineer, leaping onto his face and back. He swiveled his hands around, trying to get the Pinkie's off of him, but didn't progress much before three more Pinkie's emptied their clips into him. "Thanks, Pinkie," Applejack thanked as the pink girl helped her up. "Thought ah was a goner." "Noooo problem!" she replied happily, two of her clones firing their shotguns at the Grineer, forcing them behind cover. Excalibur saw his chance and blinded those that remained out. The Grineer flinched as the white light speared into their retinas, along with Excalibur’s blade. Applejack and Pinkie saw their chance and joined in, taking down as many Grineer as they could before the white flash dissipated. “Gotta say!” Pinkie voiced as she fought. “This white flash attack is great when it’s not targeted at us!” “Got that right,” Applejack agreed, charging through a section of Grineer. Excalibur made short work of the leftover forces lingering outside their cover, clearing most of the field with another radial javelin. At least a dozen Grineer flew into the ground and the walls, impaled by the spectral energy skanas. “We’re succeeding,” he told the other two girls with him. “Soon we’ll...” “We’ll what?” Pinkie impatiently asked. Excalibur realized it. He looked around, unable to find it. “It’s not here,” his Tenno said. “You’re right,” the pilot agreed. “The gate’s not here. This was the diversion.”