//------------------------------// // Exhaustion (The Final Wave (Part 1)) // Story: Twilight's Experiments: The War of Mann Co. 2 // by MIKEANTHONY321 //------------------------------// “I’m sorry, but that jus’ doesn’t add up to me. How the hay would putting my sentry two hooves away from the front lines give us an advantage? It’d be gone in a tick that way.” Applejack grumbled. “Uh…not if you’re standing right behind it with your wrench thingy! Besides, having all that fire power at the front lines would keep all the cash in just the right spot. It’d make my life a bit less of a hassle.” Rainbow Dash argued. Applejack rolled her eyes. “It’s the last wave, Rainbow. The cash we got now is the only cash we’re gonna have for the rest of this dang mission. It’s irrelevant.” Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. Applejack had a good point, but the brash pegasus was not willing to admit it. “Well…it still has firepower. It’ll work.” “We have my big brother for that. Plus, he don’ need someone like me whacking his flank with a wrench twenty-four-seven to keep him up and running all the time. Fluttershy’s got him handled. My sentry being back here can block off giant ‘you’-bots so they can’t fly through us with the bomb.” Rainbow Dash sighed, defeated. Supposedly, spending so much time in battle had given her country companion a strategic edge. She was rapidly becoming more invaluable to the team. And for that, Rainbow had to give her props. … The fourth and fifth waves had gone considerably better than the third one. Although the bomb never passed the A-labeled entrance, the ponies had gotten within half a second of losing Rainbow Dash permanently. Fluttershy’s sudden surge of maniacal, frustrated energy brought the team back from the gates of hell within an inch of the final shove. The base, the mission, and even the ponies’ lives were all too close to destruction for the wave to be considered effective. However, the near-death experience had at least supplied the group with a new plethora of confidence and motivation, which was an essential piece of moving through the following two waves. At the same time, it prevented the defenders (excluding Rainbow Dash) from diving into suicidal situations without a nearby safety-net. The team worked seamlessly. … This was the final wave, though, and that confidence was soon going to be put to the test. The penultimate wave was always rumored to be the most difficult, but that didn’t stop the ponies from believing that the upcoming wave was going to be even more challenging. Fluttershy sat leaning against the gas tanker in the middle of the room, dabbing her hoof against her red-stained nose. Quite alarmingly, the blood flow had not slowed down since the third wave from earlier. “Are you sure you’re okay, Flutters? A bleed like that can’t be normal.” Big Mac mumbled in his deep, booming voice. Fluttershy shrugged. “I’ve grabbed health kits, and stood near dispensers. Since my nose is still bleeding, I don’t really think it’s very harmful to me. If it were, it probably would’ve stopped when I grabbed the health.” Big Mac nodded, understanding Fluttershy’s fairly-sensible response. Fluttershy had herself only partially convinced, but that didn’t mean that her teammates should have to worry about her. Too much was at stake as it was, and the extra stress would do nothing but set her team back. She only wished she could see Red Medic’s consoling face again. … The majority of the team at the moment could’ve been seen lounging around the room with their weapons set aside on the ground. Extra tension was unnecessary. They’ve accomplished the feat of defense a time before at the Mannworks base. With only thirty seconds on the clock before the beginning of the final wave, the defenders’ time was naught to be spent on unneeded scrambling. Spike, not saying anything to his surrounding teammates, walked slowly toward the wooden-crate ledge at one of the building’s exits, and rocket-jumped his way out. Once outside, he rocket-jumped again, which landed him on top of the huge pile of metal storage units that Twilight was perched on. Twilight looked at him, and grinned casually. “This is really it, huh?” Spike murmured. Twilight nodded solemnly. “It really is. Last time we did this, there wasn’t so much at stake.” Spike took Twilight’s reply in gradually, reminiscing in the gravity of the meaning of her words. As a result, a silence sat between them for a solid chunk of time. The two of them glared at the ground in front of them, willingly sharing a fairly awkward moment. Spike’s rocket launcher and Twilight’s sniper rifle sat next to each other on the metal crate surface. “Twilight, just to let you know…” Spike started. “…If we don’t make it…” Twilight rolled her eyes and chuckled heartily. “C’mon, Spike, let’s not get like that. I’m surer than anything that we’re gonna ace this. Don’t you feel the same way?” Spike took a second to give his answer. “Well…yeah, but I just figured…you know…just in case. I really loved being your number-one assistant back in Equestria. It was the best thing to ever happen to me.” Twilight said nothing. A smile appeared on her face. She glanced over at Spike, and then back at the ground. Spike did the same a moment later before continuing. “And I know we didn’t ask to be trapped in this universe from your experiment, but I don’t mind that either. It’s really fun and lively here, and for the most part, it’s not permanently deadly. We can be wild and crazy while enjoying each other and our human friends.” He added. Twilight, deep in thought about Spike’s speech, bit her bottom lip. She nodded her head slowly and purposefully. “And I’m really glad that you were able to find a special somepony. Er…special somebody, rather. I never really got that, since my pal is a psycho male with a tin can over his face.” Twilight laughed, which lightened the dense mood that had fallen over the two of them. Spike smiled at the funny line that he had cracked. When the laughter faded, he continued again. “I know I was always just a result of an exam that you took back in the day, but it doesn’t really matter to me. No matter how we add up, you were always like a mother to me. And, even now, none of that has changed. I just have ponies—er…people now that I can consider a father. Thank you for bringing us here. It’s an ongoing adventure that I still haven’t gotten sick of.” Twilight was repeatedly wiping her face with both of her hooves. Regardless of how much effort she employed, however, her eyes just couldn’t keep their valves shut. She found tears of emotion falling from her face in front of her lifelong companion. “Come here, Spike.” She whispered, holding her hooves out in front of her. Without hesitation, Spike leapt into Twilight’s embrace. Only in Equestria had a bonding moment ever occurred between the two. Now, on the brink of an intense conflict, true colors shined in their relationship with each other. Spike wasn’t much of a baby dragon anymore. ………………………………………………. The Final Wave! ………………………………………………. “This is it! The final wave is upon us! DO NOT disappoint me!” The Announcer shrilly ordered. Shocked out of their moment, Twilight and Spike picked up their weapons. Spike positioned his rocket launcher on his shoulder, and launched back into the main room with the rest of his teammates. Fluttershy laboriously picked herself up off the ground, lazily gave Spike his health back, and prepared herself and Big Mac for the final invasion. All other preparations from the defenders had already been made. The group lifted their weapons, and stared in concentrated readiness at the entrance hatch. They were ready. The bots were being fired up. It was all coming down to this. …………………………………………… “5…4…3…2…1…” Almost before the Announcer could even finish the countdown, the first couple of bots already became visible from the inside of the ship. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the first bots to be dealt with were indeed giants. From the high-rise ledge, Rainbow Dash called down. “Alright, we have two giant Spike bots and a giant Pinkie Pie bot!” Her teammates gave no reply, but heard completely what they were up against. Using a purchased crit canteen, Zecora had already prepared for the wave by placing crit-boosted sticky bombs at the bots’ entrance. Rarity stood behind those sticky bombs against the back wall, past where the bots would be falling in. A number of the defenders groaned when the bots came into full view. The giant Spike bots had crit-boosted rocket launchers. Its firing capacity was still unknown, but there was no point in taking a chance. “Fluttershy…you still know how ‘ta get that shield working, right?” Big Mac asked uncertainly. “Um…yeah. Do you need me to use it?” She replied. He nodded rapidly. “Yes, that would be smart.” … Fluttershy, still healing Big Mac, immediately ran up in front of him. Not wasting a second, she flipped the corresponding switch on her medi-pack, and the partially-visible wall of protection flickered to life in front of her. “Wait, Fluttershy, don’t use the shield now!” Applejack cried. Shortly after the shield was deployed, she shook her head. “What?! But…Big Mac told me to!” She squealed in response. “He didn’t mean right at that second! Your shield is going to be gone too early once the rockets start flying!” Applejack informed. Fluttershy, embarrassed and confused, trudged back behind Big Mac with her shield still active. Applejack almost called out to her not to do that either, but she held her tongue. With how much the pegasus healed, the shield would surely be back as soon as it needed to. ……………………………………………………. This may be an odd music selection, but I think it’ll fit well. Lava ……………………………………………………. The giants fell off the ledge and into the pit, sending huge clouds of crit-rockets in the ponies’ direction as soon as it did so. No one hesitated for even a moment before returning the fire at full throttle. Big Mac and Spike spent every living second sending damage towards the bots, hoping to leave at least a few dents. Rarity did nothing at the moment, attempting to save her cover in order to avoid a deadly hit. The bot managed to march forward as far as ten feet before reaching Zecora’s sticky bomb trap. In a sudden deafening blast, Zecora sent the bot’s parts flying with the press of her big red button. The active defenders covered their eyes, obscuring their view from the soaring pieces of shrapnel. It was always easy to tip the first giant that way. Two more still remained in the battlefield, however. In addition, two more giant Pinkie Pie bots became visible whilst making their entrance behind the ship. “Easy peasy, right?” Rainbow Dash giggled from the air. Rarity rolled her eyes lightly from behind the front lines. Pinkie Pie bots were the bane of her existence as a Spy. Giant ones made the danger even worse. As long as she could manage to keep her cover effectively, they wouldn’t pose a threat. If a wisp of flame touched her, on the other hoof, things would get ugly. … Deciding ultimately to ignore the Pinkie bots for the time-being, Rarity jogged forward to assist with the two other giant Spike bots that still haunted the battlefield. Luckily for her, they were at least standing right next to each other. That way, her sapper effect could fall on both of them simultaneously. She placed her sapper on the back of the first bot’s shin. Immediately, its electro-draining effects began to forcibly suck the life out of both bots through electromagnetic radiation. Their speed decreased to about half, and their sensory plugins started to fail slowly. This bought the defenders a handsome amount of time to kill the bots before the newly-entered Pinkie bots could wreak too much havoc. Fluttershy’s accidental shield shut down within the few seconds of Rarity’s sap, so the ponies no longer had any rocket protection. Luckily, the sap saved them from that, too. Rarity pulled out the Dead Ringer temporarily while she retreated just in case any other bots would’ve seen her trickery. Spike countered the bots in their lethargic state with rockets of his own, effectively lighting the bots up with plenty of explosive damage. Just as he ran out of ammo, Twilight finished the job with a fine-tuned headshot. … Spike smirked, and turned around as he began to reload. He suddenly jumped a foot in the air, startled. Both of the giant Pinkie bots were staring right down at him. A crooked, blue-glowing smile appeared on one of the bot’s faces. It took aim with its flamethrower, and set the dragon ablaze. Spike hissed in excruciating pain as he hunkered to his knees and collapsed. “You’d might wanna grab him!” Applejack called to Fluttershy, pointing at Spike’s crisp body. Fluttershy was in a hard sweat. Panting heavily from her mouth, she responded sluggishly without a word or even a nod. Tottering over to Spike’s corpse, she took an awkward second to correct her balance, and then opened her healing to his hologram. Spike was back in just a few minor moments. Before thanking her, he looked to her with concern. “Hey, Flutters…are you okay?” She didn’t respond. Her tired eyes glanced at him briefly before she turned back around and continued healing the active defenders. Spike shrugged, and rocket-blasted his way back into action. … A mass of steel-gauntlet Big Mac bots charged their way into the battlefield before the ponies could finish the job on the Pinkie bots. With no guns on those bots, Rarity had a substantial advantage against them. Wasting no time, she began to sprint from one to another, backstabbing them along the way. Besides her, Twilight was the only other defender who could assist with the Gauntlet bots. Every other pony was fully occupied on the giant Pinkie bots, which were effectively cutting a huge hole in their defenses. The plumes of flame ejected from their weapons kept the ponies at an annoying distance, preventing any accurate shots and shield damage. Even Applejack’s sentry gun was distracted. In a sudden, unexpected motion, one of the Pinkie bots swung its body around, and aimed its flame at Zecora and Rainbow Dash. Without a moment’s notice, the two of them were burned to the ground. In the split second it took for the other defenders to observe this, the other bot did the same thing in the other direction. In a matter of five deadly seconds, four defenders were dead. “Fluttershy, let’s go! Chop chop!” Applejack ordered. With an immediate task to complete, Fluttershy snapped out of her exhausted gaze. She flanked around to the right, and began her Ubercharge before healing the downed teammates. With the tripled healing rate, she had the two of them revived in a flash. Orbiting a long path around at a safe distance from the Pinkie bots, Fluttershy used the remainder of her Ubercharge to revive the other two teammates with the same gusto. When Zecora, the last downed teammate, was revived, she looked at Fluttershy with worry. “Fluttershy, dear, are you alright? Your senses seem off a mite.” Once again, Fluttershy didn’t respond. Her tired, labored breathing gave her the appearance of being near another heart attack, or at least a pretty bad aneurysm. Her face was losing its complexion. Random strands of her hair were sticking out. Her energy had been burned up back when she had managed to revive all of her friends in the third wave, and now it was three waves later. No one was sure how much longer she would hold out. … After Fluttershy’s surge of quick revitalization, the defenders continued their work on the giant Pinkie bots. At this point, they were only a few paces from the ramp that led up to the A-gate, but they were also heavily damaged. Spike shot off a few more rockets from his remaining load, and completely took out one of them in a deafening boom. Just a second later, Applejack’s sentry involuntarily shot out a set of rockets, which managed to destroy the second one. Ultimately, they got lucky. “Great job, y’all! Now I need ya to just stay there for a sec.” Applejack instructed. She sat up on the ledge with her sentry gun, so, unlike the ponies down in the pit, she could see way back to the front lines. Rainbow Dash, busily picking up the credits dropped by the dead giants, scoffed. “What makes you think we should? We lost a bit of ground, in case you haven’t noticed! We need to push back up!” Applejack shook her head disapprovingly. “Jus’ don’t. Things got a bit ugly while y’all were busy down there. Twilight ‘n Rarity got their hooves full right now, so y’all need to stay back here and be the backup crew.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Screw that.” She took off sprinting towards the front lines. “I need to go grab some mon—” She stopped right in her tracks. Upon turning the corner under the bridge, a thirsty horde of Force-A-Nature Rainbow Dash bots and mini-crit-boosted Spike bots came into view. They were on rapid approach. Beyond them at the front lines, two full-crit-boosted giant Spike bots were marching their way to the battlefield. … The over-confident pegasus scuttled back around the corner to the rest of the defenders with a flushed look on her face. “…Get ready, guys.” Applejack spoke up again. “Now I’d just stay clear and make a wall or something. No one push up, ya hear? If someone gets killed, I ain’t sure Fluttershy would be able to handle it anymore.” Upon hearing Applejack, the defenders stole a glance at Fluttershy. The dazed medic stood there off to the side absently, swinging from side to side with little balance. Her Quick-Fix dangled awkwardly in her grip. “Uh…that looks pretty bad…” Pinkie Pie stuttered quietly. … Barely giving Pinkie Pie the opportunity to finish her statement, the tidal wave of bots slid around the corner with vicious speed. The ponies jumped a mile, startled by their sudden arrival. Both sides raised their weapons, and immediately opened fire. Fluttershy snapped out of her daze again, and pushed herself back into working order. She began overhealing the ponies covering the front of the defense wall. Zecora set a sticky trap right behind where the ponies were standing. Amongst said stickies was the bomb. The ponies had the bomb right by their hooves on the ground, which needed to stay where it was as long as possible. Mini-crit rockets filled the air around the defenders. Explosions left and right were the only things that could be heard by living ears. Between shots, the ponies would have to duck for quick cover to avoid being blown up in the rocket cloud. At the same time, an assisting swarm of Rainbow Dash bots with Force-A-Natures peppered the area with forceful bullets capable of sending even Big Mac a few paces backwards. In fact, this was keeping the ponies back entirely. After being shot by a bullet spread, a defender would be given no time to run back to the front lines before another spread sent them backwards again. Slowly, this effect pushed the ponies back past Zecora’s sticky trap. As soon as a few bots stepped over the trap to retrieve the bomb, Zecora set off the explosives. Random piles of ruptured scrap metal were tossed into the air as the unfortunate bots got their armor and circuitry torn apart. However, these defensive efforts were only scratching the surface of the expansive iceberg of bots that were flowing in from the front lines. … “You should have built it back up by now, Fluttershy. Get that shield going for us!” Rainbow Dash cried. Silence came from the medic as she continued healing Big Mac for no reason. “Fluttershy!!!” She blinked. “Huh? What?” “Your shield!” “Oh, uh…” She fiddled with her controls. “…Which one was it again?” Rainbow Dash slapped her face with her hoof, along with all of the other defenders. Their goose was cooked. Fluttershy’s raw exhaustion was causing her to lose her mind, and the rest of the team was paying for it. Her distracted state was interrupted, though, when a mini-crit rocket whizzed right past her ear. She was once again jolted back to reality. Instead of deploying her shield, however, she shrieked and ran behind the cover of Big Mac and Zecora. Her healing remained on Big Mac. … Applejack, distraught over Fluttershy’s deteriorating head, failed to notice a stream of crit-rockets heading straight for her from the front lines, where two new full-crit giant Spike bots had spawned into the battlefield. She glanced upwards, and dropped her jaw to the ground in surprise. A rocket made contact with her sentry gun, destroying it instantly. In the same instant, the rocket right behind it collided with her face, violently obliterating her entire body. Applejack was immediately down for the count. Fluttershy at least managed to take fast note of this death and respond to it promptly. She jumped out from behind the brute defenders and ran up the ramp to the ledge where the incident had occurred. In a few effortless moments, Applejack was back on her hooves. “Don’t expect a thank you yet, Flutters. We ain’t done yet!” Applejack exclaimed. Fluttershy took a minute to catch her breath before nodding in response. … With their medic temporarily away from their location, the line of defenders blocking the A-gate began to back up reluctantly. Their concentrated attempts at firepower were only managing to strip away the first few bots in an endless wave that just kept coming. The ponies at the front of the formation were starting to take considerable damage. With no one but Twilight and Rarity trying to pick off damage, the two giant Spike bots in the back were making quick, dangerous progress. Before anyone was ready, the two behemoths became visible around the corner. “Oh, crap! Where the heck did they come from?” Spike yelled in shock. “I think we have a problem…” Big Mac muttered. Both of the giant bots shot out a crit-rocket at the same time. The ponies watched in frenzied horror as the powerful projectiles sailed right towards them. Upon impact, Big Mac, Zecora, and Spike were all annihilated. Without any sort of verbal agreement, the remaining survivors from the blast retreated frantically. Applejack even ran off of the site through the bridge exit to get to safety outside the building. Fluttershy was close behind. Rarity weaved her way through the back lines to be with everyone else through the safety of her disguise. … Upon getting outside, Applejack and Fluttershy were greeted with confusion by Twilight. “What’s going on in there, guys? I could see those giant Spike bots through the doorway here, but I wasn’t able to make out anything else.” Applejack and Fluttershy were both panting heavily. “We finally lost it in there! It’s a no-mare zone! Turn your attention to the left, because things are about to get ugly over at the A-gate!” Applejack interjected. Upon following Applejack’s order, Twilight observed the remaining defenders spilling out from the A-gate in a panicked frenzy. Close behind them, the hoard of Spike and Rainbow Dash bots became visible. They all crowded around the A-gate entrance, causing the gate to open rapidly. The loud siren began to sound. “Be prepared for a second bomb, guys! This is where things kick it up a notch!” Rainbow Dash announced. The surviving defenders took appropriate positions, and prepared to defend the A-gate with everything that they had. … Applejack thought for a minute, and then turned to Fluttershy. “Wait a minute, Fluttershy. Where are all the dead folks you left from the crit blast earlier?” She asked. “Which ones?” Fluttershy asked absently. Applejack gasped in frustration. “Big Mac, Zecora, and Spike!” Fluttershy placed a hoof on her chin. Her eyes then widened a second later. “…Oh!” “Hurry! You’re wasting time!” Applejack screamed. … In a tired sprint, Fluttershy made a break back for the building where the dead defenders lay. Upon reaching the bridge on the inside, she turned to the left, and jumped off the side. Aiming her Quick-Fix up, she turned the corner to survey the deaths. She stopped immediately, and went completely cold. In front of her…was nothing. The spot where the crit impact had killed the three defenders lay barren and empty. No red holograms could be seen. The small hip devices that produced the holograms were there laying on the ground, but no streams of light were pouring out of them. The defenders’ bodies still lay in bloody pieces all over the ground. Fluttershy stared in confused shock for another second. Flipping on the microphone, she stuttered nervously. “Uh…girls?” “What?!” Twilight and Applejack called back in unison. “I, uh…well…there’s nothing here……” “WHAT?!” Applejack yelled. “I think I’m too late…” Fluttershy whimpered, crouching on the ground in fear. … Responding instantly, Applejack and Twilight both began to book it to the building to see the damage. Upon arrival, the two of them stared past Fluttershy in utter disbelief. “F…Fluttershy…” Twilight stammered. Fluttershy turned around and looked up at the two of them, startled. She looked like a small child staring up at her parents after having shattered an expensive wine glass. “W…what do I do?” She whimpered. Twilight glanced uncertainly at Applejack. Slowly, the farmer’s face began to change from one of shock and grief to one of anger and frustration. “Nothing…” She seethed. “…What?” “NOTHING! There’s nothing you can do, Fluttershy! My big brother is gone forever now, and there’s no way you can fix it!” Her face turning red, she buried her head in her hooves and tried to hold back tears. “Celestia…why couldn’t you just get your act together?! You’ve been puttzin’ your way around during this wave like a damned zombie!” “Applejack, I think that’s enough…” Twilight whispered. Fluttershy started to sob. “No, Twilight, I’m not done yet! Fluttershy, you’ve proven that you’re capable of fighting this fight, and now you’ve gone and let all of us down! You let ME down! You let Big Mac down, and…” She stopped, breathing heavily with rage. Fluttershy was crying heavily into her hooves, frightened from her scolding and ashamed of her poor performance. Twilight stared disapprovingly at Applejack. “Applejack, stop. This is unnecessary. I lost Spike because of this incident, so don’t think that this doesn’t hurt me, too. He already said what needed to be said before the wave started, though, so I’m going to try and stay strong through it all. I understand if this hurts, but there’s no way you can unload all of it onto Fluttershy like this. You know how she is.” The unicorn explained. … Applejack, still breathing heavily, walked away from Twilight. “That doesn’t change anything.” She muttered angrily under her breath. Twilight ignored her disgruntled friend’s remark. She turned to Fluttershy. “C’mon, Fluttershy, come up here to me. We came into this battle expecting losses. We can push through it. You’ve done an exceptional job so far, and we still need you to complete this task. Don’t let me lose you, too.” Fluttershy wiped her damp face with her hoof. With a final, reluctant nod, she did what Twilight asked of her. Trudging around the corner and up the ramp, the upset pegasus walked over to Twilight and out the doorway to the outside environment where the current battle was still taking place. Having assumed spectacular positions, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were eliminating the remainder of the Rainbow Dash and Spike bots without losing much health. Rainbow Dash promptly ran her way through the shrapnel, grabbing credits in her wake to keep her own health supplied. With an extremely stricken look on her face, Applejack was setting up a dispenser and a sentry gun near the front lines for additional support. The A-gate had been lost to the bots during Fluttershy’s failure dispute. Now, additional bots entering the battlefield would enter from the A-gate rather than from the main entrance. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity fought swiftly and efficiently, not even aware that three of their fellow defenders were permanently eliminated. Just as the last of the Rainbow Dash and Spike bots were destroyed, the two giant crit Spike bots from down in the pit made themselves visible from the apex of the ramp. Suddenly operating at a great disadvantage, the defenders at the front quickly retreated backwards. … Twilight stepped back a few paces, and raised her rifle to her face. “Fluttershy, now is your chance to make things right. Get that shield working, and give us some time to develop our defenses from the crit rockets.” Fluttershy didn’t say anything. Reminiscing on the death of Spike, Big Mac, and Zecora, the flustered pegasus experienced a wave of frustration. Her face grew tense. She gripped her Quick-Fix with a newly-developed state of defiance. She began building up the last bit of tired energy that resided within her. “What did I say about harming my friends?” She grumbled fiercely. The giant Spike bots responded by opening fire with a rain of crit rockets. In a powerful, jerking motion, Fluttershy threw the switch on her backpack, and sent the shield up in a burst of uber-tronic energy. She steadily and stubbornly began to march her way forward. The crit rockets began making impact with her shield, causing deadly explosions against its radiant surface. The defenders, however, were located safely behind the shield’s reaches. Out of the bots’ destructive range, they were then able to open fire in a secure, one-directional manner. “‘Atta girl, Flutters!” Rainbow Dash cheered from the front. Having soared fearlessly in front of the shield’s protection, she began to collect stray credits from fallen small bots in order to retain her overheal. After roughly four or five seconds, the giant Spike bots looked as if they were finally beginning to sustain damage. The remaining fighters continued their relentless onslaught, restrained only by the loss of their three most powerful comrades. Twilight and Applejack became the two most damage-dealing defenders. “Excuse me asking, darling, but where are Spike and Big Mac? Their firepower could really give us an edge!” Rarity called from behind the bots. Twilight bit her bottom lip. Awkwardly and reluctantly, no one who knew about the disaster opted to answer Rarity’s question. Seemingly shrugging off the concern, Rarity resumed her portion of the carnage. … Rocket after rocket came flying toward Fluttershy’s face before crashing into her shield with thunderous force. Still defiantly standing her ground, the desperate medic continued her trek forward. Each blast that her shield deflected traveled back to her Quick-Fix and into her hooves like a shockwave, weakening her already-wilting muscles. In another second or two, blood started to pour out of her nose again. Her eyes started to twitch. Sickening numbness began to bloom out of her limbs and envelop her entire body, focusing on her head and on her chest. In her last few moments of stubborn willpower, Fluttershy began to realize that her physical body was giving up on her. She was getting overcome by exhaustion. “…No……n…no…” She wheezed. After placing one more hoof in front of her in a vain attempt to proceed forward, Fluttershy’s entire body collapsed. Her hooves gave way beneath her, causing her to crumple forward to the ground as if she were shot in the back by a sniper. Upon the release of her weak grip on the lever of the Quick-Fix, her shield promptly deactivated. With her shield entirely gone, Fluttershy lay on the ground for a moment, trying hard not to completely pass out. Her equipment lay idle on the ground next to her. In an extremely tiresome and laborious effort, Fluttershy put two hooves in front of her fallen head, and strained to lift herself up. Slowly, her shaking arms managed to elevate her head off of the ground just enough for her to look forward and see what was ahead of her. … The overworked and defeated pegasus saw only one thing upon setting her gaze forward. There, just ahead of her, was a critically-charged rocket in mid-air, hurdling straight for her. Her eyes widened, and her pupils shrunk to the size of a needle. She gasped widely. As the rocket neared Fluttershy’s face, a startling and horrifying realization hit her. She had messed up again. And this time, it was bad. ……………………………………… The other ponies watched in shock as Fluttershy was struck with a crit-rocket. A deafening explosion rung through their ears, while a blinding flash caused them to squint their eyes. When the flash dissipated, chunks of Fluttershy’s body could be seen flying through the air like shrapnel. A violent spray of blood sprinkled down on the ground like fine snow particles. The Quick-Fix backpack and the attached medigun slammed into the ground with great force. In the center of all the gore, a red halo of Fluttershy’s figure flickered into view, waiting to be healed by another medic. However, there wasn’t another medic. Fluttershy, the only one on the team with the ability to revive teammates, was dead. And the wave was only halfway done. To be Continued…