//------------------------------// // Ready Player One? // Story: Warriors of Gun and Blade // by chaoswisp1000 //------------------------------// 'How did we get all of this accomplished?' That was the question I asked myself over and over as I sat on the couch in Fluttershy's cottage. I had stayed the night at the yellow pegasus's home to make sure she was really okay with the idea of donning weaponized armor. Her choice never changed, she wanted to protect her friends. 'She may be shy, but she has a strong will, I'll give her that'. "Cynder?" The yellow pegasus trotted up to me, giving me a concerned look. "I-If you or any of your other friends don't think I'm qualified to wear the armor, then I-I'll just find somepony else to try it..." "Wha--where'd you get that idea from?" She looked down at the floor, her mane hiding her face from me. "y-you all just seemed so shocked when I volunteered," she lifted her head to look me in the...well, lack of eyes, "I thought th-that maybe you didnt want me to get involved." "Fluttershy," I sighed, placing a hand on the equine's equivalent of a shoulder, "If we thought you wouldn't be suitable, no pun intended, we would have objected by now." "R-Really?" she asked, "T-thank you f-for being honest Cy-Cynder" It took me a moment to realize that while I was perfectly comfortable, the air outside my armor was, in fact, only 7.22 degrees celsius (45 Degrees Fahrenheit). And it was also at this moment I realized Fluttershy was shivering. 'just dont burn her alive' I thought repeatedly as I channeled energy to my palm, like I would when preparing a fireball. Only I was using a positively tiny amount of energy in comparison to that attack. However it was enough energy to heat the palm of my hand and warm my friend up. "T-thank you Cynder" She said quietly, looking at the floor again. "Don't mention it," I said, in a careless tone. Then I realized what the other tenno might think if they found out about this, and quickly added, "Actually, seriously don't mention this to anyone or anypony else" She lifter her head again smiling at me before saying, "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye" upon uttering the last part she appeared to poke herself in the eye. "uh..." I managed. "Oh, that's right you don't know about that" the mare chuckled. "I'll explain if you want" "um, sure" *** As Fluttershy finished up her explanation of a "Pinkie-Pie-Promise", which I still didn't comprehend, the sound of roaring liset engines filled the air. It also sent Fluttershy under the couch, and made me grin behind my helmet. "Fluttershy it okay" I said, "Come on, Chaser is here to pick us up" Reluctantly the yellow pegasus came out from under the couch and followed me over to the door. Once outside, I looked up at the hovering, black and red stealth ship, and again smiled. "Ready, Cynder?" I heard the mirage chime through my commlink. "Just get us up there already" I chuckled As if by voice command, the normal airlock on the liset retracted, leaving a gap large enough to enter through. "Fluttershy" The yellow mare looked at me with a frightened, wide-eyed look, "come on get up there already!" Giving me a still wide-eyed nod, she flapped her wings and flew into the vessel. I crouched, and pulled off a perfect bullet jump followed by a well-timed rolling jump, before landing on the floor of the liset. As I stood up i heard the airlock hiss back into place underneath us. "Welcome aboard the liset," Chaser called from the orbiter compartment, "Sorry about the lack of seats, but this Isn't exactly a ship for cruising in" The Stalker's stalker chuckled, entering the main cabin. "The hate looks good on you Chaser" I giggled, gesturing to the large scythe that now rested on her back alongside her bow and quiver. "Thanks, but i think you'll find this more interesting" She said, holding up a stasis case. "So, that's the armor?" I asked, "thought it would look...more complete." The armor was in pieces, but it was arranged as it should be worn. Each plate of armor was in exactly the right spot, held in place by a stasis-field. From what I could see there were three separate pieces of armor for each leg, three for the torso including, and one piece for the head that resembled a crown of sorts. However, there was one thing that confused me. This armor had a blunt horn protruding off of the crown, however it was more stubby than the one from the armor The Lotus had shown us previously. Additionally, two frilly fin-like structures protruded from the chest plate, and a skirt-like structure around the waist that appeared to be made out of the same material, which also had not been present on the blueprint The Lotus had shown us. "Hey Chaser, wasn't the blueprint you received more akin to an Excalibur in terms of design?" I asked, "this looks more like a Saryn." "Yeah, um..." The dark mirage rubbed the back of her neck, "you see, I uh...kinda forgot to have Ordis start the chassis for that armor, but all the others are nearing completion." "I think it looks kind of...pretty" Fluttershy commented quietly. "Lady Chaser, miss Cynder?" Ordis chimed, "we have arrived at the specified coordinates--SO GET OUT--I hope the new frame works as per my calculations" "Thanks Ordi" Chaser giggled, as the revolving airlock retracted again, "I'll let you know how it preformed when I get back" She said before leaping to the ground, followed by me, and finally Fluttershy. *** "Okay, everything should be set," Huntress said, adjusting crown so it was stable on Fluttershy's head. Once it was, several small blue lights along the base flickered on. "Do you feel okay with this Fluttershy?" a nervous Twilight asked. "Perfectly fine" the yellow mare replied. "Okay then we should be all set," Chaser said, "Fluttershy, the headpiece should have established its "neural link" with you, so try to think about the armor activating and it should do so." I turned to the Mirage, perplexed. "How would you know that?" She shrugged, "Lotus gave me the basics on how the suits should function." Fluttershy looked confused, as did everyone else in the room, but closed her eyes, and appeared to do as she was told. Suddenly from the crown several smooth, white panels slid over the pegasus's face coming together with an audible click to form the helmet of the armor. From the base of the helmet a grey substance flowed down the pony's neck to the chest plate. The substance continued to flow until all the gaps between the armor pieces had been covered by grey, oil-like substance, hiding any trace of the yellow pegasus underneath, save for the tail. Small lights running along the armored spinal column of the armor flickered on. Finally, the oil-like substance rapidly solidified into a layer of flexible armor. For a few seconds everything was silent. "Are you okay in there fluttershy?" Avalon asked sounding slightly worried. There was no response. "Fluttershy?" Huntress waved her hand in front of the helmet. "I-I-I'm okay" came the shaky reply. "It works" Avalon sounded quite surprised. "How do you feel?" I asked the mare inside the armor, "Can you move?" In response the armored pony took a few slow, nervous steps forwards. Her covered hooves making a soft clack against the wood floor. "Wow" Twilight breathed, "that is amazing." She then looked confused as everyone started to head outside. Both she and Fluttershy were the last two to step outside into the early morning sunlight. I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at Twilight's remark, "You think that is amazing, then wait until you see what it canreally do." I turned back to armored mare. "Fluttershy," she turned her now featureless face towards me, "try jumping as high as you can." "B-But my wings are stuck" the pegasus noted. And this was true, while the frame had seemingly adapted to the change in body type, the wings were covered over and held to the sides of the body. 'I said jump, not fly right?' I asked myself. Thankfully, Twilight was on hand to explain that Fluttershy, as a pegasus, was used to using her wings to stabilize her body. Without them she would have a harder time balancing when landing. "Fluttershy, trust me" Avalon said, "you will be fine" Fluttershy remained silent, but crouched, took a deep breath, and jumped. The height of the jump was impressive, nearly 12ft or 3.6576 meters. And, despite both Twilight and Fluttershy's concerns, the landing was even smother, perfect posture, for a quadruped, and nothing broken. I, along with Avalon, Chaser, and Huntress, gave Fluttershy a quiet round of applause. While Twilight just stared, once again, opened mouthed. Seemingly overwhelmed by the enhancements the armor provided. 'And the scary thing is' I thought, 'I bet she is gonna ask more questions about it' *** For the next two and a half hours we continued to test the armor's capabilities. We had started with sprinting, having been told that Fluttershy wasn't exactly the fastest pony on her hooves. With the armor on, however; she managed to keep pace with Chaser, a mirage with a maxed out Rush mod installed. We tested out more advanced movement techniques next. First up was the double jump, which, unsurprisingly, flummoxed Twilight. Then came the bullet jump, which Fluttershy seemed to enjoy doing, right up until the point where she got nauseous. To finish up I had Huntress lead Fluttershy through a series of narrow alleys by wall-running and wall-latching. When it was all done, Fluttershy was still herself: shy, quiet, and kind. But the pony-frame had granted her additional strength and power. It did have one drawback though, which was made clear when Twilight's friends arrived at the library. This drawback was made clear to all of us when Rarity screamed upon seeing the armored pegasus. "What is that thing" she cried, hiding behind Avalon. "That" I answered, "Is Fluttershy"