//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: The Mare in the Moon Part 3 // Story: The War Machine // by Urimas Ebonheart //------------------------------// The War Machine Chapter 7: The Mare in the Moon Part 3 I pull the trigger and fire another slug at her. She conjures a magical shield and the shot is deflected off it, I grab one of my flashbangs and pull the pin, I then charge at her and throw the flashbang in my hand at her face as it goes off, earning a scream of pain as Nightmare Moon is blinded by the light. I punch through the shield which shatters and hit her in the face again, but this time, she only moves back by a foot. Her eyes open and she glares at me. "Not this time, foal," she says and blasts me point-blank with a large amount of magical energy, I'm lifted off the ground by two feet and fall back three metres. As I crash to the ground, I swiftly aim my shotgun at her and fire off a slug at her throat again. She chokes for a few seconds as I fire my back jets and upright myself quickly. "You're really getting on my nerves you poor excuse for a warrior!" she yells at me and teleports away, my minimap detects her directly to my right, but I don't react in time as she kicks me hard with her hind legs. I'm sent flying again and tumble across the ground a couple of metres, I get back up and try to find her. She's disappeared again, I detect her behind me and again she kicks me across the ground. I get up and use my jets to lunge at her, I kick her in the chest and follow it up with an uppercut under her jaw, she flips backwards and fires a strong blast of magic at my head as she rights her self mid air, making me flip onto my chest. "Is this the best you can do? I must say I'm disappointed," she tells me. I get back up and face her. "Why do you want to make eternal night?" I ask her. Getting information out of her might prove useful, she also seems to be the type to boast and gloat, this can buy me some time. "Oh? So it does speak. I just wish to destroy all life on the planet, do I really need a reason to do so?" she replies. "I was told you're a parasite possessing Luna. Why her," I ask. "My my, so curious," she says and starts circling me, I turn with her to keep her in my view. "I was originally going to take that peace loving alicorn Celestia and use her magic to increase the sun's rays, burning the planet to a crisp, but she always kept her guard up; I just couldn't find an opening..." she then giggles maliciously. "But her sister was such an easy target. Always laid back and relaxed, it was easy to sneak into her room and claim her body for myself," she tells me. Processing... "Are you from this planet?" I ask her. "Oh? You're the first to ask such a question. No, no I'm not, I arrived on a meteorite about one-thousand and twenty years ago. Now it's my turn to ask a question, what are you? I've never seen such a creature before with a hide made of metal," she replies and asks me. Processing... Answer question to prolong distraction. "I am an artificial intelligence, a man made machine which can think and act for itself," I reply. This seems to surprise her. "You were built? Intriguing, no such thing existed before I was banished, seems I missed out on a lot during the last thousand years. I wonder if I would be able to possess you or not?" she muses. "Unlikely, due to the fact I have no biological components," I tell her. I run a scan on her and detect an insect like creature at the base of her neck attached to the spine under the muscle. "Pity. Your body seems much more effective for battle than these ponies, these alicorns seem to be some of the few most powerful beings on the planet. I would've liked to keep this body when I leave, but it seems her magic is tied to this planet," she says and fires a bolt of magic without warning. I raise my left hand and catch the bolt in my palm as the magic disperses around it. "And what would you do once you've wiped all life off the planet," I ask and start circling her. "What I have always done, find a way to leave the planet and hibernate on a meteorite until I land on the next planet to destroy," she tells me with a vicious grin, showing off her fangs. I would rather kill her where she stands right now with how dangerous she is, but I gave my word I wouldn't until the end of the third day. "And where is Celestia right now?" I ask her. She did tell me she would be sealed by Nightmare Moon. "Oh you naughty thing, what makes you think I'd tell you that?" she purrs and laughs. I turn my right shoulder to her and grip another flashbang with my left hand and pull the pin with my thumb. "It never hurts to ask," I reply. "But it can. Ask somepony the wrong question and it could cost you your life!" she yells and lunges at me. I toss the flashbang and aim my shotgun at her head and fire a slug right between her eyes, she screams as the bright light blinds her again and the slug makes her stumble back. I holster my shotgun and pull out a tac-90 pistol and fire a single shot into her right upper foreleg, blood spurts out and she cries out in pain. I fire another three shots at her legs, but she puts up another shield and the shots get deflected. I then fire a single missile from my left shoulder launcher at the base of her shield near the ground, she yells in surprise as her shield shatters and the explosion blows her back six metres. "What manner of magic is this!?" she demands as she gets up, blinking her eyes so she can see again. I don't answer and charge at her again while taking shots at her, she dodges a few while others graze her. She then teleports on top of a building and charges up her horn, Twilight and Celestia have done tests on my armour plating with their magic and apparently my titansteel plates can withstand up to twelve strong blasts from an alicorn before breaking under the pressure and heat. She fires blast after blast of magic at me and I try my best to avoid them, I use my forearm plates to deflect those I can't avoid and the plates start to heat up from the magical energy. I activate my jet skates to make myself a harder to hit moving target, my sudden movement shocks her for a second before she resumes her assault as I fire the remainder of the magazine at her and she raises her shield again. I need to get close to her again, I need to grab her horn and pin her down... Calculating... Forty percent chance of success, target's physical strength is greater than expected. Sliding to a halt, I reload my pistol in just over a second and resume taking shots at her, she teleports across the town centre and onto another building. "Let's see how you handle my little pets!" she says and her horn glows. Black shadow like creatures resembling ponies with silver eyes, bat-like wings, and fangs emerge out of the shadows between the buildings. "Go my children! Tear it apart!" she orders them and I pull out my other pistol. The shadow ponies screech out all together and fly right at me, I notice some of them also fly off into the Everfree Forest; now these I don't have to worry about killing. I mark and track all targets and repeatedly fire shot after shot into their foreheads. They don't drop like I expected them to. Instead, they break apart like smoke in the air. I experiment and also fire a few missiles, killing small groups of them. As I combat the shadow ponies, the guards she knocked out earlier try to ambush her, only to be torn apart as her mane and tail coil around them and rip their limbs off. Two of the shadow ponies latch onto me and start to bite at my plating, warning signals flood my text system as they're slowly biting through the titansteel. I grasp the head of the one on my left shoulder and crush it, it bursts into a mist and dissipates as the right one rips off my shoulder guard and tosses it away. I manage to shrug it off to the ground and stomp on its head, it bursts and I resume firing into the others. I grab the last one by the throat and turn to Nightmare Moon and grip it hard. The head pops off and then dissipates. Nightmare Moon glares and snarls at me with a hateful expression. "Why won't you just die!?" she screams and I detect a large amount of energy gathering in her horn, alarms warn me to avoid it as it would rip through me easily. She fires a large beam of superheated magic at me and I use my jet skates to dash to the right, but the beam was faster than I calculated and my left arm is melted off. She smirks, but then looks stunned as I'm still standing. She roars out in rage and turns into a blue mist and rushes right for me, I holster my remaining pistol and activate my taser. Probability of effecting target seventy-two percent. She clashes into me and engulfs me completely, scanners indicate she's trying to get inside. I active my system defence and electricity covers my entire body, she screams in pain as she quickly gets away and reforms. "Damn you!.." she says and snarls at me. I detach what's left of my left arm and seal off the hydraulic fluid valves. I need to keep her focus on me, getting her even angrier will be effective. "That the best you got? I'm not impressed," I repeat what she told me. She roars in anger and her horn glows again, I ready myself for another magical attack, but instead a black sword with tiny white diamonds along the blade making them look like stars appears in front of her. She swings the blade at me and I hold up my right arm and parry it with the plate. Her eyes look almost feral as she rapidly swings the sword at me, sparks fly off as she repeatedly hits my armour plating over and over again. I max out my processors, then reach out and grasp the blade in my hand mid swing. "Not even Celestia was this much trouble until she got her precious Elements! How are you still standing!" she demands and I pull the sword hard, breaking it free from her magical grip. She glares so hard it's almost like she could melt my metal with it alone, she then suddenly gasps and looks towards the Everfree Forest. "Impossible! They were sealed away!" she yells and turns back into a mist before flying off into the Forest. I drop the sword and quickly activate my jet skates as I give chase. My tracking systems keep track of her on my minimap and I charge my way through the foliage and small trees. Animals scatter as I bulldoze my way through, keeping up with Nightmare Moon. I notice a pony in a brown cloak and hood taking cover behind a tree along the way, but I ignore them and continue following my target. An old derelict castle comes into view and Nightmare Moon flies above it and dives through the roof, I max out my jets and barrel through the wall where I see her thrusting her horn right at Twilight who is floating in the air wearing a golden tiara with a purple six pointed star gem in it. I slide in between them and Nightmare Moon impales me through my lower back with her horn. "Adam!" Twilight yells with panic in her tone. Warning signals scream at me and I quickly grab her horn so she can't pull it back out. "You!? Release me you insufferable creature!" she yells at me in rage and tries to pull her horn out. I hold on but my system glitches slightly, making my grip loosen and that was all she needed to pull her horn out and wrap her left foreleg around my neck. She pulls hard and I can hear the hydraulics and motors protesting from the force; if this keeps up, she'll rip my head off. My self preservation directive then kicks in, forgive me Celestia. I raise my right arm and extend the blade and without hesitation, I cut her leg off. She screams in pain and falls to the stone floor, I recover my balance and wrap my right arm around her neck this time and I use my weight to pin her down. "Twilight! Use the Elements! I can't hold her for long!" I tell her. "But you'll be hit as well!" she replies. "Just do it!" I tell her. I see tears run down her face as the light intensifies, after a few seconds of struggling to keep Nightmare Moon pinned down, a rainbow coloured beam of intense energy soars right at us and hits. Nightmare Moon screams in agony as my systems start to malfunction. Error. System wide malfunction detected. Core unstable. Initiating core shutdown... Error. Shutdown subroutine corrupted. Transmitting emergency evacuation signal... Error. Communications systems offline. Attempting to vent remaining power... Error. Vent system damaged. I can barely think anymore as my vision fades in and out with static, I faintly detect some new data flowing into me. Downloading new data... Processing... New operating system detected. Core regaining stability. Subroutines back online. Initiating forced shutdown procedures. POV: Twilight Sparkle Once the Elements finish and the light dies down, I see Adam on the floor and not moving; sparks flying off and hydraulic fluids leaking from him, it looks like he rolled over as a small blue alicorn with a light blue mane and tail is in his grasp. She's missing her left foreleg which is laying on the floor nearby, still unpurified. I rush over and shake Adam. "Adam? Speak to me, Adam!" I yell at him. I can see a dim light in the hole in his back meaning his core is still intact. The room lights up as the sun rises and Celestia appears in the room. She looks around and spots us, she then gasps and gallops over. "Twilight!? What happened!?" she asks as she kneels down beside us and looks on in horror at the condition of both Adam and the alicorn. "Sister..." she mutters quietly. Celestia levitates her sister out of Adam's grip and I check him over, his left arm looks like it was melted off by some really powerful spell as the plating is warped around his shoulder joint. He's missing a few of his titansteel plates and the hole in his abdomen looks severe. I don't know how we're going to get him out, and I don't think we'll get his Trailer here either.