//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: The Steampunk Revolution // by Metal Gear PINK //------------------------------// Chapter 3 Vinyl woke up to the sounds of explosions and the screaming of the townspeople. She quickly shot out of her comfy bed in her cozy red room and teleported outside to investigate the sounds. What she saw made her jaw drop. The town was burning, people were either panicking or dead and worse was a giant 100ft bronze and copper automaton was seen destroying a factory with its 40ft blade which could be easily seen as enhanced due to magic. It was shaped similar to an earthling, with a head, two arms, a body, and two legs. On the right arm was the number 459 implanted on it. Vinyl squinted and saw the various maintenance workers rushing around and checking on the gears for any problems and unicorns using magic to keep up the automaton’s shields in case of a rebel attack. Vinyl’s face scrunched up in anger as she yelled towards the barn, “Automaton! Get back to the airship!” She rushed over to it and teleported inside, instantly waking up Wadsworth who was asleep at the wheel for some inexplicable reason. He fell over in surprise but quickly got back to his feet as Vinyl ordered him to prepare for takeoff. “Vinyl! We need fuel, remember! We can’t take off without it!” he reminded her. Vinyl’s eyes widened as she realized what she must do if they were to survive this attack. “Get everyone else on board! I’m going into Ponyville to retrieve some fuel from one of the factories!” she ordered. “Yes, Miss Scratch! Right away!” he saluted before adding, “Good luck, our lives depend on your success.” Vinyl groaned and rubbed her temple. “Don’t remind me” she said before running off into the burning streets of a ruined town as Wadsworth started issuing orders to the awakening crew. --------- Rarity was startled awake as Applejack shook her; utter concern of fear written all over her features. “Wake up, sugarcube! Ponyville is under attack! Ya need to git to yer airship immediately!” Rarity’s eyes burst open on the word ‘attack’ and jumped quickly onto her feet. She was going to freshen up at first on pure habit but immediately chastised herself because it was not the time to worry about such inconsequential things when your life was at stake. She turned to face Applejack only to see her dart out of the barn. She rushed over to follow her but once she got outside, her eyes widened even further. There was complete carnage and death on an unimaginable scale according to Rarity. It was even worse the day her sister had died and that day was unforgettable. Octavia spotted her stunned friend and ran over to her. When she saw that Rarity was paralyzed with shock and fear, she shook her in hopes of breaking her from her entranced state. “Rarity! We gotta move the Apple Family into the Base Cannon before it is too late so we can escape.” Rarity shook her head, looked at her friend and nodded in confirmation. They rushed into the house and found that AJ already retrieved her wife, brother, and sister. They were also carrying a golden apple jar with the words ‘Granny Smith’ written on it, presumably from a family member whom had died long ago. Octavia told them it was time to go and they all ran over to the airship in hopes of escape. --------- Vinyl had stealthily been wandering the ruins of Ponyville while staying away from the magical menacing mechanical machine. Fortunately, she had been in a similar situation years ago that had two of them instead of one but it seemed this one was much more advanced than that. She knew that the automaton had scouters; people who would look around and try to spot any survivors that would try and hide from the carnage. She knew exactly where they were placed and could easily deduce where there blind spots were. She didn’t really need to pay attention to the automaton anyway since it was on the opposite side of town. While she was dodging debris and climbing over the now burnt and crumbling walls of many destroyed houses and other miscellaneous areas as she ran through the streets; she could still hear the stomping, the screaming, the explosions, the yells for anyone to save them from their untimely demises. Even though she was trained to have nerves of steel and to try to ignore the people’s suffering and instead focus on her objective, she wished she could do something but it was suicidal to try. She promised to herself that the Queen of the Crystal Empire would pay for her crimes and her corruption over Equestria. She hoped she would be there to see the life leave that evil woman’s eyes. Once she found the factory that had the fuel she needed, she went inside and searched for the supplies. As soon as she would find some; she would use her magic to teleport them to the ship. Better that than try to return them manually. When she was done, she could tell that she didn’t have enough magic to teleport herself so she had to go back on foot. --------- “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT VINYL WENT INTO THE TOWN!” Octavia screamed in Wadsworth’s face as her own face was completely red with anger. “Miss Scratch went to get some fuel. We are all out,” he pointed out, “Besides, she’s done this plenty time before. She is a very stealthy woman and she will not be detected. You don’t have to worry about her!” “I don’t care what you think I should worry about. She’s my best friend and she shouldn’t of went out alone!” Octavia yelled out defiantly. Her face came closer to his and he could feel the heat radiating from the musician’s cheeks. She glared at him so fiercely that he couldn’t help but shrink away from it. Once he stepped back and regained his posture, he stated in a firm tone, “Well, you should. We’re all in danger here. If this thing doesn’t get airborne by the time that automaton spots us, we’ll all die. She’s doing this for your benefit Miss. Melody!” “I’m going after her,” she growled as she turned around to prepare to bolt out of the airship. Wadsworth’s eyes widened as he tried to quickly reason with the unreasonable Octavia. “I advise you not to do that! You’ll only put yourself and Scratch in danger!” “Well, you can shove your advice up your hindquarters!” Octavia yelled at him as she rushed out of the door, leaving Wadsworth, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack completely stunned while Rarity and a knowing smirk on her face. “Is she completely crazy! I’ll tell you that I will never understand you women! So irrational!” exclaimed Wadsworth, annoyance written all over his face. If only you knew Wadsworth, thought Rarity. Out the corner of her eye, she saw multiple packages and cans appear suddenly out of nowhere. Rarity immediately knew that this was the fuel that Vinyl was searching for. Wadsworth followed her gaze and spotted what she saw. He walked over and smiled when he opened them and saw what was inside. Once satisfied with the contents, he immediately shouted out to the crew to take the fuel and refuel the ship as soon as possible. He looked at the group and politely said, “Now we wait for Miss Scratch and Melody to return!” --------- Vinyl hopped outside; right into the vision of one of the scouters. She growled at herself for such a stupid rookie mistake and bolted towards her ship as quickly as she could. The scouter teleported into the automatons head to alert the pilots of the location of a survivor. The automaton turned around and as soon as the pilots saw the running unicorn, it charged after her. Her heart caught in her throat as she heard the automaton getting closer and closer. She knew she couldn’t outrun this metal behemoth and she didn’t have enough magic in her magical tank for a simple teleportation. This couldn’t be how the great mercenary Vinyl Scratch dies and fails her mission? She was Vinyl Scratch, the best mercenary in all of existence. She never failed a mission in her life and she couldn’t fail the most important mission she ever undertook, not to a simple machination. The bronze beast had finally caught up with her. Vinyl forced herself to stop and stare at her adversary, only to see its foot raise into the air above her head. It planned to crush her like a bug under its shoe. What a disrespectful and laughable way to go for the best mercenary in the business. Vinyl Scratch sighed at her defeat before she closed her eyes; waiting for the inevitable. Maybe the afterlife will be a much better place? She hoped Octavia would escape and complete the mission for her. She hoped that Octavia would live to see this stupid war end. She hoped that Octavia could settle down with a loved one and have a family on her own. She hoped her friend would never forget about poor Vinyl, one of her best friends for life. Goodbye, old friend. Have a wonderful life… without me! --------- Octavia panted as she bolted through the ruins of the destroyed buildings. She tried to avoid acknowledging the dead bodies that were littered all around her, hoping that none of them was Vinyl. She knew that they were crushed and they were burning like a strip bacon on a barbeque, though the pony anthro race were completely vegetarian. The rancid smell of cooking dead flesh and blood threatened to invade Octavia’s nostrils and forcing her to stop so she could vomit. Tears streamed down her cheeks while she was cursing that infernal Queen Crystalline for her heartlessness. Since she was the queen’s personal musician; Octavia was almost constantly under the presence of the Queen and she hated it with all her heart. The queen was menacing, cruel, evil, and careless. She revelled in the pain of the unfortunate and the death of those she considered her enemies. She would gloat about how she tortured and killed Queen Celestia and her three children. Octavia would often find herself wondering why the queen just doesn’t kill everybody by now. The queen was the kind of person to do that and completely love it. She would only show a little mercy for the nobles; but that was about it. Why keep most of Equestria alive? Shaking her head of those unpleasant memories and her thought on that question about the evil queen, she instead focused on looking for Vinyl. She had a crush on her little badass best friend and would not let her die before she could reveal her feelings. She worried about rejection of course, showing how Vinyl never seemed to give love a thought. She didn’t care if her friend reciprocated her feeling or not because she would rather have her friend be alive and reject her than find her dead and later find out that she felt the same. She rushed out of the factory she currently was in and spotted Vinyl. Octavia gasped as she saw the weaponized automaton about to crush her friend underneath its foot. She bolted as quickly as she could as the machine’s foot began its descent. She tackled Vinyl out of the way as its foot came crashing down at the last second. Vinyl slowly opened her eyes as she felt the wind rip at her messy hair and saw that the burning building were rushing by in a blur. She looked down and saw that she was draped over Octavia’s shoulder. Octavia felt Vinyl start to move but wouldn’t stop her run in fear of losing her adrenaline rush which was helping propel her forward. Vinyl’s eyes widened because she had never seen her friend run this fast in her life. The automaton behind them was looking around for more survivors; the pilots and scouters believing that Vinyl and Octavia were dead. Too bad that they were completely wrong. Octavia could finally spot the Apple Family residence in the distance. She ran past it towards the Base Cannon and saw that there were smoke billowing from the smokestacks and knew that they were ready for take off. Vinyl saw this too and used her magic to teleport the two inside since some of her stamina was restored. Once inside; she dropped from Octavia shoulders and yelled out to Wadsworth, “Take off immediately and put the magic shields to max. Load all the cannons with magically enhanced cannonballs. We are going to destroy that bastard automaton to send a damn message to Queen Bitchalline!” As the crew ran to their battle station, Rarity whispered under her breath, “My my, such uncouth language.” She knew she would be of no use in this fight so she picked up Octavia, who was panting like she ran the marathon and followed Applejack and her family into the safe room that Wadsworth presented them. --------- Wadsworth took the wheel as Vinyl took her place next to him. The airship had managed to rise from the ashes like a fire phoenix and started circling the oblivious automaton. Vinyl used her magic to activate what she called a ‘PA system’ and yelled out instruction on how to beat and destroy automatons. “Remember to use magic to enhance the explosiveness of the already magically enhanced cannonball. We have the element of surprise so aim for the head. If we take out the pilots, they’ll have to commandeer it with magic and doing so will decrease the amount of magic users so it will decrease the proficiency of their shields and de-enchant its blade! Good luck and let’s make ‘em pay for all the suffering they have committed. It's time we strike back towards Crystalline and show her that the rebellion will NOT be defeated as easily as she has led herself to believe! Stand together and help me destroy this threat and send it back to Queen Bitch as a can-opener!” She could hear the cheering coming from every direction of the airship. Smiling to herself for such a great speech; she yelled, “OPEN FIRE!” All the cannons on the left side of the ship fired simultaneously and it struck their intended target’s head. The explosion was absolutely fantastic as it completely destroyed the head; frying the pilots who were once alive inside it. The automaton had almost fell, but was picked right back up by the magic users, decreasing their defense. Just like Vinyl hoped they would. Vinyl’s grin grew wider as Wadsworth spun the wheel to turn around the airship so the right side was facing the automaton. Everybody knew that they were to fire at the chest region, where the core was and make it ignite into a glorious explosion. As they fired, a giant shield adorned in the Crystal Empire flag’s colors was levitated into the automaton;s left hand and then used it to defend itself against the oncoming barrage. As the shield was relentlessly hammered by the cannonfire; Vinyl yelled into the PA system for everyone to hold fire to stop them from wasting all their ammunition. “Flank it; we attack from behind!” she ordered Wadsworth whom immediately complied. The airship went around the behemoth a bit, but Wadsworth had to take immediate defensive maneuvers as he flew it sharply to the left as the automaton swung its sword vertically. He then had to pull up as the automaton swung its blade horizontally. He then turned it around and flew out of it’s range before it could attack again. Vinyl sighed as she yelled into her PA system, “Activate stealth mode, there’s no other way to attack it without putting ourselves in danger!” The unicorns aboard the ship were quick to follow their orders as the Base Cannon disappeared from view. The unicorns aboard the automaton got nervous as they prepared to cast a sonar spell but a cannon shot rang out as a wave of disruption magic stopped them from casting the spell leaving the automaton completely vulnerable. Since the disruption magic wasn’t powerful enough to stop the unicorn’s hold on the automaton; they made it cower behind its shield, waiting for an attack. The scouter's tried looking for any sign of the flying ship but they couldn’t at all. The maintenance workers also got nervous as they awaited the inevitable. The back of the automaton was quickly attacked as the explosions caused the machine to stand up but since the explosions were so intense, the arms of the automaton fell off due to not enough stability. The Base Cannon fired more cannonballs into the back as it turned around to allow its left side to attack as well. The explosions caused so much damage to the machine that it was torn in half at the torso. Once the top half of the machine touched the ground, it exploded. Everyone on the airship cheered at their well earned victory and revenge. Wadsworth and Vinyl quickly set course to the Steampunk’s last location and flew off towards it to recover the fate of the rebellion. --------- The dark smoke cloud of Sombra flew through the wreckage of Automaton 459, looking for any survivors. The twisted green eyes spotted the Captain that was in charge. It was the same captain his queen spoke to and she didn’t tolerate failures of soldiers that she personally gave orders to. The captain was coughing his lungs out, completely surprised that he had managed to survive the fight and the explosions. Once he sat up; you could see all the scrapes, bruises, burn mark and could also see his armor was cracked open like a golden egg. Once he spotted Sombra, his eyes widened in fear as it turned into a tall grey man with black hair and greyish-red armor. “S-S-Sombra!” stuttered the captain, completely nervous at the darkling’s presence, “I-I didn’t know you’d be h-here!” As Sombra took a step forward towards the quivering captain, he took a step back from the intimidating shade; visibly shaking. Sombra took another step closer and as did the captain, but unfortunately he tripped over a piece of metal debris from the destroyed automaton. He tried to flap his wings to keep from falling on his back and to regain his balance, but the left wing was grabbed harshly. Sombra used his strength to lift him up and grabbed his throat with his free hand and began to squeeze. The darkling lifted him up even higher as he gazed into the frightened eyes of the so-called fearless soldier and growled, “You failed our queen’sss expectationsss, captain!” “I-I’m sorry,” he tried to choke out but it was difficult for him because Sombra squeezed even harder; constricting the poor pegasus’ airways. “We-we c-can try again!” “Queen Cryssstalline doesssn’t tolerate failuresss!” he hissed as his red horn glowed dark purple, his green and red eyes staring into his victim’s very soul; the purple wisps coming from his eyes grew more intense as he cast his dark spell.. The captain’s once blue eyes glowed sickly green as Sombra released his grip and let the inferior captain drop into the metal. The shade started grinning manically as the captain got up and started brushing his arms and legs furiously. He started screaming about spiders and how much he feared them. He brushed them even more intensely as the magic grew stronger as the hallucination spiders bit and crawled even more. He screamed and screamed until his heart couldn’t take it and he fell back down, spazzing out as he had a heart attack until his body seized up and he twitched no more. Sombra looked down at the dead body and howled into the sky with laughter that could send chills down even a Windigo’s non-existent spine. --------- Rarity was shaken awake by Octavia, grumbling about how her beauty sleep was rudely interrupted without her consent. Now, not only did she have to share a room with Octavia, but she now had to share it with the annoyingly brash pegasus and her family. It was exhausting! It didn’t also help that Vinyl warned them about the speculations that a spy might be aboard the airship. She really did hate all this tension and stress that came along on this journey. Who knew how it would affect her complexion and beauty. It was even worse still when their roommates were such early birds and had to get up at 4:00, freaking 4:00! She did still try to primp herself up as usual with the same routine as she always did. Who couldn’t blame her, she had to try and look presentable to such a famous person as Pinkamena. There was a beep and a voice that came from nowhere and it had broke the fashionista’s concentration. “Get up! We’ve finally arrived to the island in the Crispin Sea!” Dash, as soon as she heard the announcement, dashed right out of the room with her wife in tow. Big Mac had to stop Applebloom as she attempted to leave and follow them and said, “Eenope!” “But I wanna see what’s goin’ on?” Applebloom pouted as she stomped her left foot and folded her ears. Rarity chuckled a bit at the childish display and followed Octavia as the musician left the room. Passing all the crew members and trying to avoid touching any of the dirty and greasy pipes; she reached where Vinyl, Wadsworth, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Octavia were waiting for her. When she joined the circle, Wadsworth cleared his throat and informed them, “Okay. I found the wreckage of a boat that I believe the Steampunk must’ve taken. There seem to be some survivors wandering the island, trying to build a boat to escape or something. Hopefully, one of them is the Steampunk we’re looking for.” “Good job, Wadsworth!” Vinyl complimented her long-time personal assistant before she faced the others and ordered, “We’ll land on this island and help the survivors any way we can. Maybe they will tell us the location of the Steampunk or maybe we’ll even find her ourselves.” She then turned to face Rainbow Dash and asked, “What does she look like, act like, and talk like? We’ll need some details if we’re gonna find her ASAP!” Rainbow Dash fluffed her wings a bit and smugly smiled as she answered cryptically, “You’ll tell, I can guarantee that 100%” --------- When they landed next to the grey, broken in half boat; they split and decided it was best to divide and conquer. Thankfully, Rarity was sent to the western beachside where it appeared like there was another unfinished boat. She was rather glad she was sent this way instead of having to step foot into that dirty grimy ship. There weren’t that much survivors in this area and it appeared to be mostly just earthlings and pegasi. As she analyzed the area, she noticed immediately a weird looking oven. Curious, she walked over to it and could smell sweets that were being baked in them. The area was also surrounded by flour and other miscellaneous ingredients she didn’t care to list out. The oven itself looked to be steampowered and was twice the size of a normal oven that she would see in the Canterlot Kitchens. She reached over to touch it, but found her hand slapped away. She recoiled from the strike and looked over to her attacker with the most stern and intimidating look she could muster, only to have it melted away as she looked at the expression plastered on her attacker’s face. It was a big smile, but not like the ones she was used to seeing on the faces of those snotty little nobles back in Canterlot. It was innocent and genuine, unlike the conniving and smug smiles she was used to seeing. The girl was pink and she was covered in muck and grime like she had been literally swimming in filth. Her hair was outrageously poofy and completely full of curls. Her charming blue eyes could be seen as innocent as her smile and was basically shimmering with the joyous arua this girl seemed to carry around her. It was like one of Rarity’s favorite scented candles that she loved to use, especially to make things as romantic as possible. When she spoke, her voice was filled with an unnerving amount of cheer and happiness. “Nu uh! Food isn’t done yet!” Rarity was quick to regain the posture she had unknowingly lost and said, “Sorry about that. It’s just… I’ve never seen anything like it.” The pink girl rolled her eyes and giggled, “Of course you haven’t seen it before, silly! It’s a prototype that I had built a while ago! I managed to increase its capacity and decreased the amount of time needed to cook things. I’d tell you how it works and how I built it, but you’d look at me all funny and go ‘What did that crazy girl just say, I didn’t understand a word that came out of her mouth!’ and walk off all super duper confused!” She then gasped as her eyes had widened in realization, “Holy Celestia! I’ve never seen YOU before! Were you hiding from me? You should’ve told me we were going hide n’ seek, I love that game!” The alabaster fashionista was rendered completely speechless. How could someone be so positive and childish at a time and age like this one? Everyone was usually all very serious, depressed, or exhausted, yet this girl somehow was completely different. It was actually a bit of a breath of fresh air to meet someone so… lively and energetic. She had finally found the words she was scrounging up from her brain and retold what Vinyl had told her to say if she was put into a situation like this. “We came upon your wreckage and we decided to help out.” The girl’s smile dropped and was replaced by a very confused frown and stated,”What? Nobody ever goes out here, not even Crystalline’s ships since the entire Captain Heartstrings fiasco. I wonder if those pirate tales are true. The only way you would’ve found us is if you’re looking for us or if you’re part of Heartstrings’ crew!” Rarity was so shocked at the stranger’s guess and her heart started racing. Vinyl didn’t prepare her for this. How was she supposed to answer? How should she answer? What could she do know? Tell the truth and expose them? What-? “Or we’re just very lucky!” she shouted as she jumped in place, her hair and ears bobbing with her. “Y-yes! V-very lucky,” she stammered, trying to get over her mini-heart attack and her weird version of twenty questions. “Yay!” the pink girl shouted with full enthusiasm, pumping a fist into the air with a big beaming smile on her face. She calmed herself down a bit and looked at Rarity with such happy eyes. Eyes that Rarity couldn’t stop staring at until a hand was thrusted in front of her face as the girl introduced herself, “Oh yeah! Introductions are in order! The name is Pinkamena Diane Pie or Pinkie Pie for short!” Rarity recoiled from the dirty hand, a look of disgust on her face. Gah! I’m not shaking that hand! It’s dirty and… and… wait a minute! Rarity’s eyes widened as she had just caught on to the girl’s name and she gasped. “What!? Did I-,” Pinkie began, but she was cut off as she was deafened as the fashionista turned around and yelled out: “GUYS! I FOUND HER! SHE’S HERE ON THE WESTERN BEACHSIDE!” Rarity turned back around to flash the Steampunk with a smile, but somehow the girl had completely disappeared from view and Rarity whispered to herself, “Uh oh!” --------- “WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘YOU LOST HER!?’ HOW COULD SHE DISAPPEAR BEFORE YOUR VERY OWN EYES!?” Vinyl angrily demanded, her white face taken over with the red of rage. She stared down at Rarity who was slightly trembling with fear; her ears flat against her skull. Before Rarity could answer; Rainbow Dash flew to her defense. “Hey! Pinkie Pie usually vanishes and appears out of nowhere and she is basically the queen at hiding! Thankfully, I’ve played Hide n’ Seek long enough to possibly know where she is hiding. I’ll find her faster than any of you can say ‘Rainbow Dash is awesome’,” she declared as she flew off, only to stop and to turn around to face the unfunctional oven. She rolled her eyes as she zipped over to it and opened it. Pinkie Pie fell out, frowning slightly. “Aw! You found me! You were always really good at the Seek part, Dashie!” the girl pouted before stepping up and brushing herself off, her outfit surprisingly without at the dirt and grime it had on it later. “Well, Pinks. I learned to look in places that anybody would’ve least expected you to be in. I knew you were just probably hiding in plain sight and that you love to bake so I put 2 and 2 together and figured out where you were hiding!” Dash stated as she smugly smiled. “Yep! Just like old times!” she exclaimed as she wrapped her long-time friend into a hug. She looked over Dash’s shoulder and spotted Applejack and Octavia and put on a confused face. “Why is AJ and Octi here? I thought Octi was supposed to be spying on that nasty queen and that you and AJ were helping out with the hunger in Ponyville.” Dash released her friend from their embrace and adopted a somber face. The steampunk’s smile faltered a bit and Rarity had noticed that her eyes were losing that spark she saw in them earlier as she asked, with less joy evident in her voice, “What’s wrong?” “It’s better if we tell you on the airship.” --------- “So they found her!” the crystal queen smiled as she sat on her throne, looking through Sombra’s eyes and conversing with him telepathically. “Ssso it would ssseem! Do I take her now?” hissed Sombra as he floated inside the Base Cannon, using the shadows to hide from the crew members aboard. “No!” ordered Crystalline as got up off her throne. “My spy will make sure they stop at Canterlot. Then, when you gather the Canterlot Elite, will you take their ship and drive it back to the Crystal Empire. To me!” “Asss you wish, Cryssstalline!” “Yes… as I wish! Now, while you are bringing my steampunk back to me; I’ve got a wedding to plan!” she cackled; the blue flames of the torches in her throne room flickering even more intensely.