“Fluttershy, have I told ya lately that you’re a genius?” Applejack asked, hands on her hips. Both of them, along with Sunset Shimmer, were looking up at Applejack’s Dark Horn.
“She’s right, Fluttershy,” Sunset added. “I knew you were reworking that Multisensor, but I didn’t expect you to build a shield generator in as well!”
“Oh, well, the shield generator isn’t such a big deal,” Fluttershy said modestly, blushing. “Luna brought one that I was able to get working, and I thought it’d help keep the Dark Horn safe. I mean, it wouldn’t have stopped the shells from Vinyl Scratch’s Golujas, but it would have taken enough force out of the first one that you might have been able to keep fighting.”
“I was thinking about that, but I wasn’t sure you’d be able to power it,” Sunset said.
“That was the easy part. A Dark Horn’s Deochalcum power source generates a lot more energy than it actually uses, especially with this payload. I just wish I’d thought of it sooner.”
“Any chance you could stick one o’ them in any of our other Zoids?” Applejack asked.
“Probably not, no. Sorry, but the Dark Horn is really the only Zoid we have with the kind of power output a shield generator needs.”
“Well, I guess it was worth asking,” Applejack said. “I’m glad you got that new turret goin’, I gotta say.”
“Uh-huh. The beam Gatling gun is new, but it has the same specs as the one Vinyl ruined. As for the 80-millimeter railgun, I’d like you to do some target shooting to make sure I calibrated it correctly. I also want to make sure the ECM I put in works.”
“Boy howdy, you went all out!” Applejack exclaimed.
“The ECM was Sunset’s idea,” Fluttershy admitted bashfully.
“I blatantly stole the idea from Vinyl Scratch,” Sunset added. “She gave us so much trouble just by using a high-power Zoid with an ECM unit, I thought we could do the same. Admittedly my first thought was to load it into Pinkie’s Dibison, but it didn’t have the power output for it.”
“Heh, Deochalcum comes through again,” Applejack said, grinning.
“Your turret can elevate both weapons independently or together. Both weapons can be raised fully vertical, and lateral rotation is a full three hundred sixty degrees,” Fluttershy rattled off. “Downward rotation is much more limited, mostly because your Dark Horn’s own body would get in the way.”
“That’ll do just fine,” Applejack replied, her smile widening. “I got that linear cannon fer anything that gets under my turret.”
“Fluttershy, this is truly great work,” Sunset patted her shoulder. “Thanks for this. Especially for getting it done before our next match. The Illusions won’t know what hit them!”
“Got yerself a plan in mind?”
“You bet I do. Better get some sim practice blind-firing and forward observing with that Multisensor, you’ll need it. Oh, I just thought of something.” Sunset put her hands on her hips. “This is essentially a completely new, custom variant of the Dark Horn, so I believe it needs a name. For Commission records, if no other reason. Do either of you have any suggestions?”
“Um, since I made it especially for Applejack, could we call it the Dark Horn Applejack Special?” Fluttershy offered.
“Works fer me,” Applejack said, nodding. “Makes sense, gets right to the point. I like it.”
“All right, the Dark Horn Applejack Special it is.”
“Okay, I’ve got a plan, and it’s a good one!” Sunset said excitedly. “The Illusions all pilot the same Zoid: A modified Command Wolf AC they refer to as an Illusionary Command Wolf.”
“Might I ask what’s so special about them?” Rarity asked. “Other than those… unconventional paint schemes, I mean.”
“Their paint is based on pattern-breaker camouflage designs, but their color choices… Well.” Sunset stared at the Zoids shown on the main screen. “Purple, sky blue, and white aren't really ideal for blending into any environment I can think of. Anyway. They’ve modified the smoke emitters, they have chaff seeded into the smoke. I wasn’t able to find out what it was made of, but the stuff floats in the air along with the smoke, and it jams most sensors. This protects them from sensor-guided weapons, which are of course the main problem faced by Command Wolves when their smoke’s out.”
“I see where yer goin’ with this,” Applejack said with a grin.
“Oh yes. Your new Multisensor’s got a range of about two miles, and it’ll see through pretty much everything, up to and including optic camouflage. You already know this from running the simulators, but you’ll be able to functionally ignore the Illusions’ smoke, chaff or not.” Sunset brought up a map of the battlefield, a narrow canyon with several large boulders and outcroppings scattered throughout it. “Pinkie, you I want you to set up behind this boulder,” Sunset continued, marking a massive stone near the northern end of the chasm. “You can threaten about half the battlefield from there. Applejack, I’ll make sure your map projection has Pinkie’s bombardment range marked. Take a position in this zone,” Sunset marked an area halfway between Pinkie’s mark and the battlefield’s center point. “Once the Illusions get into range, light them up. Rarity, stick close to Applejack and cover her. I want both of you to fall back if you have to, but don’t let the Illusions get too close to Pinkie. Everyone got it?”
“Yes indeed,” Applejack answered.
“Yupperooni!” Pinkie added.
“This should be over quickly,” Rarity said, adjusting her gloves.
“Area scanned! Battlefield, set up!” The Judge announced in its usual way. “Battle Mode Zero-Nine-Seven-Three! The Illusions versus Empyrean Team! Ready… Fight!”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t know how you intend to beat her,” Trixie said over open comms as her Command Wolf rushed through the canyon, nimbly dodging boulders and outcroppings. “But she can assure you, the Illusions will not be defeated! Save yourselves some time and just give up!”
“Sunset, somethin’s funny here,” Applejack said over Empyrean Team’s channel, ignoring Trixie’s boasting. “I see Trixie, but not the other two. I’m in position, but they’re outside my sensor range.”
“So I see,” Sunset Shimmer replied. The Hover Cargo’s map display showed data from her teammate’s sensors. “They must be staying near their starting area. Trixie’s the best shooter on the team, so follow the strategy for now. Once she’s down, we’ll go looking for the others. Wait, is she stopping?”
“Yup, contour map shows her hidin’ behind a big ol' rock, just like us.” Applejack confirmed. “Outside Pinkie’s range, too. Figure she’s waitin’ to ambush us?”
Sunset considered the situation briefly. “That’d fit her strategy, but it doesn’t explain why Fuchsia Blush and Lavender Lace aren’t with her. Pinkie, you’re going to have to move up. There’s another outcropping near you that’ll get you in range to hit Trixie while keeping you in cover. Better move fast.”
“Fast as the Pinkamena D. Bison can go!” Pinkie replied.
“Wait, what?” Sunset asked, baffled. “What kind of name is that for a Dibison?”
“I thought of it this morning. Neat, huh?”
“Just… just get to -What are those warnings?!” Sunset interrupted herself as a pair of red indicators appeared on the display. “Rarity, they’re headed your way! Move!”
“Some kinda big honkin’ missiles!” Applejack said. “Multisensor picked ‘em up!”
“Pinkie, bring the thunder!” Sunset commanded. “Her teammates must’ve gotten missile launchers onto their Wolves somehow, Trixie’s playing spotter!”
“I’m going, I’m going!” Pinkie replied. “Pinkamena D. Bison’s no wind-sprinter, y’know, she’s got some meat on her bones!”
Sunset Shimmer’s eyelid twitched. “Rarity, head towards Applejack. AJ, fire up your ECM’s active jammer.”
“Already did,” Applejack replied.
“I’m firing!” Pinkie called out, the sequential blasts from her cannons competing with the explosions of both oversized missiles as they slammed into the ground, coating Rarity’s Zaber Fang with dirt as she took cover near the Dark Horn. Trixie’s Command Wolf leaped out from her boulder, but was caught in the blast of Pinkie’s first shell before making it any further. The rest of the salvo came crashing down on and around the Wolf, shaking and battering the Zoid. One of the shells sank into the Command Wolf’s left rear hip before exploding, blowing the leg several dozen feet away.
“Nice work, Pinkie!” Sunset said as Trixie’s indicator changed to show her as eliminated.
“How can this be?!” Trixie lamented, again addressing everyone present.
“‘Nother pair o’ missiles!” Applejack said as two more warnings appeared.
“Probably targeting the center of your ECM shroud! Move up and start looking for the others.” Sunset replied. “Rarity, stick with Applejack. Pinkie, move up to support them.”
Within a few minutes, indicators for the other two Illusions popped up on the Hover Cargo’s display. As Sunset Shimmer had theorized, Fuchsia Blush and Lavender Lace had remained in their starting area.
“Bingo!” Applejack said. “I love this Multisensor, it’s even figurin’ their weapon loadouts. No idea how they got them missile launchers onto Command Wolves, but it don’t matter as long as we beat ‘em.” As she said this, each Command Wolf jettisoned its vertically-oriented missile launcher and charged forward, continuing to pour smoke from their dischargers.
“Those launchers look like they came off of Iron Kongs,” Fluttershy said. “Command Wolves are very adaptable, but it must have taken some effort to convert their turret hardpoints to carry one."
“Looks like all they got left are their fangs n’ claws,” Applejack said, rounding a boulder and firing into the smoke with her beam Gatling. Rarity leapt atop the same massive stone and opened fire with her double-barreled beam cannon and small-bore laser. Under the hail of close-range laser fire, Lavender Lace’s Command Wolf collapsed. Fuchsia Blush, however, lunged from the black cloud, hitting Rarity’s Zaber Fang claws-first. Both Zoids went off the boulder and smashed into the ground on their sides. Applejack swung her turret around, but Rarity lashed out with her claws without bothering to stand, tearing into the prone Command Wolf’s lightly-armored throat and severing the cockpit’s connections to the rest of the machine.
“The battle is over! The battle is over!” The Judge announced. “The winner is... Empyrean Team!”
“Impossible!” Trixie moaned. “How could you possibly defeat the brilliant strategic mind of the Great and Powerful TRIXIE?!” Her Command Wolf’s legs twitched slightly. “Just you wait! You won’t be so lucky next time! No one defeats the Illusions more than once!”
“Uh, not to be a bad winner or nothin’,” Applejack said. “But that’s not really the kinda stuff folks normally say when their Zoids can’t even stand up.”
“Enjoy your victory while it lasts, Empyrean Team!”
“I’ve already planned the party!” Pinkie announced.
“I’m more surprised by that than I have any reason to be,” Sunset commented, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat.
Sugarcoat stood alone in a small meeting room aboard the Zoid Battle Commission’s Northeast Administration Ultrasaurus, ignoring the table and chairs bolted to the floor. Through the large, reinforced-glass window, she could see the battery of Supercannons mounted on the Ultrasaurus’s left side. The room was directly behind the cannons, and was meant to be evacuated if the titanic Zoid entered combat. She couldn’t see much beyond the cannons except empty grasslands, but Canterlot Mountain was barely visible on the horizon, far to the south. Sugarcoat glanced at her watch as the door opened and Indigo Zap walked in.
“You’re four minutes late,” Sugarcoat said without preamble. “You should try to be more punctual.”
“Saying stuff like that is why I’m your only friend,” Indigo shot back.
“I’m fully aware of the effect my honesty has on my social life. It’s weird that you think of me as a friend.”
“Yes. Yes it is.” Zap grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Besides, the boss is always late, and no one else is even here yet."
“Sugarcoat, Indigo Zap,” Sour Sweet said, entering the room. “It’s so good to see you! I guess we’re stuck together for another mission.”
“I’ve never met anyone whose name fit quite like yours, dearie,” Sunny Flare said, guiding Lemon Zest by the shoulders through the still-open door. “But you could stand to ease up on the ‘sour’ half, frankly.” Lemon Zest, eyes closed and head bobbing, was apparently lost in the musical world inside her headphones. As a result, she did not contribute to the conversation.
“You need to stop leading her around like that,” Sugarcoat told Sunny Flare, nodding to Lemon Zest. “She’s just going to keep relying on you for everything.”
“A-ha, ha ha. Ha.” Sunny laughed falsely, crossing her arms. “You don’t get to tell me how to treat my closest childhood friend, sweetie.”
“Now now, there’s no need for fighting,” Sour Sweet said disarmingly. “If we all start bickering we’ll never get anything done.”
Sugarcoat shrugged and returned her attention to the window, which was as close as she was likely to get to admitting that Sour Sweet had a point. Sunny Flare, meanwhile, looked at the door, gently nudging Lemon Zest with her elbow as it opened. Lemon looked at Flare and slid her headphones onto her shoulders as Northeast Regional Administrator Abacus Cinch entered, followed by a man and woman that Flare didn’t recognize.
“Sit down, everyone,” Cinch said, taking a seat at the head of the table. As the others took seats, Cinch continued talking. “Girls, these two are Cadance and Shining Armor. Cadance, Shining Armor, these five are some of my top agents: Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest, and Sour Sweet.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Cadance said, smiling broadly.
“I hear you girls have been dealing with people trying to mess with Zoid battles,” Shining Armor added.
“We broke up a few gambling rings that were trying to sabotage teams,” Sugarcoat explained.
“Indeed,” Cinch said, steepling her fingers. “But this time I have something of a long-term mission for you. I assume that you’ve all read the reports on the Chaos Union?”
“We’re going after the big guys this time?” Indigo Zap asked.
“Quite right. It was one thing when they were just having their own little unsanctioned battles, but the Chaos Union has started harassing our teams and staging attacks on sanctioned battles. This cannot be allowed to continue.”
“So what are we supposed to do about it? Keep trying to intercept them like the other enforcers are doing?” Sugarcoat asked.
“No, I have a special mission for you. You’re going undercover as a Battle Commission team named the Shadowbolts. You will appear to quickly become dissatisfied with our rules, which will make you the Chaos Union’s preferred recruitment material.”
“I see, we join the bad guys and make them collapse from the inside!” Lemon Zest said.
“Precisely. Cadance will serve as your team’s leader. Shining Armor will be in charge of logistics. A Hover Cargo and a selection of Zoids matching your skill sets have already been allocated. Publicly, Cadance and Shining Armor will be representatives of a Zoid research company sponsoring your battles as testing for prototype Zoid parts. To maintain this illusion, your Zoids will be fitted with non-production parts and electronics.”
Cinch paused to adjust her glasses and continued, “to maintain secrecy, none of your Zoid battles will be interfered with in any way by the Commission. Remember that the Chaos Union recruits winners, so I expect you all to perform at the peak of your abilities. Any questions?” Cinch paused as the girls shook their heads. "Good. You leave tomorrow at noon, so I suggest you begin making preparations."