A Midsummer Night's Dream
Chapter 24: Hotdrop
Pinkie skipped up the steps leading to Everfree Bandit’s conpod, the soles of her drivesuit clanging loudly against the raw metal as she took the crude prefabricated steps three at a time. Although it was well into summer, the pre-dawn mountain air was still chilly and crisp.
Maud followed behind at a much more restrained pace, each step perfectly calculated as she climbed the gantries surrounding the humming Jaeger. Her perfectly matte grey drivesuit moved with her in an disconcertingly organic manner. Pinkie still hadn’t quite gotten used to seeing Maud in her drivesuit; without the her typical flat grey dress she almost looked foreign. The sleek suit of interlocking plates and jet black undersuit just looked distinctly out of place on her sister.
She paused for moment, partially out of necessity so that Maud could catch up and partly to admire the view from the skeleton of gantries and metal scaffolding which grew out from the earth up around her Jaeger. Out past the brightly lit perimeter fence a few hundred metres away, the forests and mountains of the Proving Grounds were dark.
The Proving Grounds were a huge testing facility about an hour out of Manehatten. Nestled at the roots of a mountain range, the base featured deep valleys, craggy peaks and sweeping fields, all to test the latest machines and equipment for the Equestrian armed forces. The Proving Grounds was also Everfree Bandit’s temporary home, the hastily assembled mess of scaffolds, rigs and cranes making a makeshift pen for the massive Jaeger.
Two months on from its first commissioning, the Jaeger’s energy casters were ready to be activated. A team of a dozen J-Tech boffins had been hard at work designing a way to disperse stored charge in the massive cannons since the fault had been discovered and were now busy installing and testing their hard work on the Jaeger. It was a simple matter of safety that had prompted the move out to the isolated base, if the energy casters misfired it was better they annihilated a few square metres of forest and fields rather than blast another hole in the shatterdome.
Initial tests had been promising and now, after two weeks in the wilderness, they were ready for a full-scale test.
Maud and Pinkie had enjoyed the downtime, spending their days off exploring in the woods, hunting for rare or interesting rock specimens, composing new songs which echoed loudly off the narrow valleys or entertaining the three hundred odd ponies which worked on their Jaeger whenever they weren’t needed in the conpod. She’d made friends with the lead engineer, a diminutive earth pony named Wireframe, whose penchant to motormouth off, twitch and bounce whenever she was excited reminded Pinkie much of herself.
Pinkie missed everything about Manehatten of course, everything from the jumpy but excitable LOCCENT manager Torque, the stoic but friendly guards and of course her bestest friend, Twilight. She had heard that there were two new griffons in the shatterdome and even more rumours that there were big plans for them. While Pinkie didn’t completely understand why they were there, they must have been there for a good reason and she therefore resolved the throw them a massive welcome party when she and Maud returned.
The thought made a grin creep across her face.
She resumed her climb and quickly reaching the conpod, Maud still lethargically trailing some distance behind, Pinkie started bubbling and raving excitedly her plans to one of the technicians who accompanied her as she waited. It was rare that she got to throw a party for griffons.
To the technician’s credit, she seemed to be following along fairly well, impressive since the constant clang of her metal boots against the conpod’s floor would’ve made anything but the most bombastic of conversations unintelligible.
By the time Maud reached the conpod, Pinkie was already fastened into the Jaeger and had her helmet on, a slick full face design with a large clear visor. Compared to the previous generation suits Pinkie had trained with, it was much lighter, fully enclosed and had an integrated HUD projected on the inner faceplate. It was also highlighted with lines of blisteringly hot pink, though Pinkie probably appreciated that more than anypony else.
She peered out past the dancing lights of the conpod’s viewscreen as Maud silently hooked into the Jaeger’s drivetrain. The faintest rays of the rising sun were now visible over the crests of hills and filtering through the copses of trees which studded the mountain ridges. Despite the early hour she was eager and energetic, ready for a day of adventure and excitement. As always, Maud looked utterly impassive, though Pinkie could tell her sister was almost equally as eager for the test.
“Good morning Pinkie,” The energetic sound of Wireframe’s voice suddenly buzzed over the helmet’s intercom. “Good morning Blinky.”
“It’s Maud.” Maud protested with what could have been a sigh.
“Close enough.” Wireframe tittered cheekily. “Now I apologise for having you two up so early, but I couldn’t wait to get this done and dusted. Whenever you’re ready, jump on in.”
“It’s okay.” Pinkie sang as she absently started booting up Everfree Bandit. Most of the controls were second nature now. There was a lot more work to do without the shatterdome’s systems and staff to piggyback off, but she and Maud had gotten quite good at it. With the pre-launch checks finished, Pinkie set her end of the pons to ready.
She and Maud exchanged a small nod and with a sensation like she was being pulled down a drain, they entered the drift.
***
“Okay, listen up!” Wireframe barked cheerfully. “First, we’re just doing a dry run. Just charging the weapon and then hopefully dispersing the charge.” There was a slight pause as she presumably waited for them to do something. “You can activate the caster by either voice command, neural input or you can configure your control panel. First though, you need to make sure the master feed switch is on. It’s the purple one, three o’clock high on your control panel. Do that now please.” She added sweetly.
Maud scanned for the switch and flicked it from ‘safe’ to ‘live’. A string of green hashes lit up across the control panel.
“Good.” Wireframe confirmed. “We’ve got a target about three hundred metres downrange. Take aim, we’ll charge it up and then disperse it. We’ll be controlling it from here for now, but I’m sure you’ll want to map out a control scheme that best suits you later on.”
Pinkie nodded silently. Everfree Bandit’s reactor thrummed eagerly below her, impatiently urging its pilots on. They raised the Jaeger’s right arm, the machine fluidly complying to their order.
“Go go, energy caster!” Pinkie sang impulsively, delighted as the Jaeger’s hand spun apart at the knuckles and locked back smartly, arranging itself into a pronged array. The housing around the Jaeger’s forearm spun open, revealing several series of vents and coils. A red targeting reticule automatically overlaid itself on the Jaeger’s viewscreen and on their helmet’s display.
“Very good. Initiating test.”
Pinkie felt a surge of energy course down her foreleg like a lance of fire. The sensation grew for a moment as the energy caster guzzled power from the reactor, before suddenly tapering off and leave a dull prickling sensation. Beads of sweat started to grow along the lower half of her foreleg. The vents along the Jaeger’s arm hissed and the coils glowed dimly as the weapon bled off charge. A pulsing alert sounded in the back of her helmet as the weapon finished discharging.
“Okay!” Pinkie exclaimed cheerily, tapping her hindleg absently in time with the thrumming of the Jaeger’s reactor. She didn’t really understand much of what was going on but all the lights that were supposed to be green were green and everything else seemed to working just fine.
“Fantastic.” Wireframe bubbled excitedly. “Now we’ll move onto a live test.” She was starting to sound excited like Pinkie did when she was; she could almost imagine the diminutive scientist bouncing up, down and all over the control centre. A steady whine started to build under the conpod as the Jaeger’s power consumption rose sharply.
“Test at fifty percent charge”
A streak of light flared along the outer edge of the energy caster, the conpod’s visor immediately dropping to its darkest polarity to compensate. A sharp temperature spike and a sharp crack of ionised air washed over the conpod before the sound turned to thundering roar, a ravening arc of energy lashing out from the three projectors. The crackling bolt leapt from their palm, a burning ball of light too bright to look at, before exploding in a bloom of white fire. The earth flashed black, rock melted and what little shrubbery clung stubborn to the ground instantly flashed to ash.
The arc of light cut off after barely a second, Pinkie rapidly blinking to clear the burning afterimage seared into her retinas. Her hoof burned softly with energy and all of her fur felt tingly, stood up at attention like she’d been in the middle of an electrical storm.
“Cool!” She exclaimed brightly.
Maud blinked silently, her face impassive. Her pupils seemed to have dilated slightly though, as if she were in awe of the power now at her beck and call.
“Okay, everything looks good from this end. You girls ready to bump up the charge?” The radio crackled again, Wireframe’s voice somewhat more distorted and static-laced than before.
“Okey-dokey!” Pinkie sang, ramping up the power output like she’d been taught. Everfree Bandit sang excitedly in the back of her mind, the Jaeger putting itself into an appropriately badass firing position with little input from its pilots. Pinkie couldn’t explain it properly but the Jaeger almost felt overjoyed, as if some part of it that had been missing had returned.
She looked over at Maud, her sister sharing what passed for an excited look.
“Testing in 3… 2…” Wireframe suddenly cut off, leaving a quiet hiss of static to slither down the channel. “Uh, Stand by…” She added after a moment, a hint of concern in her voice.
Maud and Pinkie shared a confused look as the Jaeger’s weapon powered down with a disappointed whine. Pinkie twitched as she impatiently waited for somepony to tell her what was going on. Everfree Bandit started to chomp at the bit with irritation in the back of her mind, growling and whining impatiently. A nagging feeling in the back of her mind warned her of what could only be an impending doozy.
A radio crackled again. “Dispatch from Manehatten. Girls, you’re going to want to hear this…”
***
The Manehattan Shatterdome was uncharacteristically quiet.
Torque didn’t mind, he quite enjoyed the graveyard shifts. Sure, things had been ‘interesting’ with Pinkie Pie around; even a simple trip to get recaf could become fraught with peril if one happened to draw the bombastically bouncy mare’s attention. With her and a Jaeger missing though, the shatterdome felt uncharacteristically empty.
‘Not for much longer.’ Torque thought, casting his gaze down the end of the Jaeger Bay. Behind the solid walls another two of the metal giants were taking shape; sleek and graceful titans which were every bit as beautiful as they were deadly. Torque wondered what it would be like to pilot one of the machines, his running wild with imagination as his own skyscraper sized Jaeger started stomping around his head.
His pleasant train of thoughts was interrupted as a computer panel in front of him started beeping intently. Torque swore under his breath, dragging himself upright as calmly as he could.
‘Why is it always the quiet nights? And why do I always get them?’ He thought irritably as he surveyed the board expertly. There, the deep sea sensors were picking up a sudden surge of displacement in the water around them. Torque had seen the signs enough to know what they meant, a breach was imminent. Before the computer even had time to process the data, Torque had triggered the Kaiju alarm.
A few moments later feeds of data started to stream into the LOCCENT. Displacement, radiation readings and sonar sweeps started to paint a picture of the creature, a long and skinny Category III with a pair of what looked like large pectoral fins and a long horn. It was light, only just registering over a CAT III signature, but if the initial readouts were to believed it was fast, faster than anything Torque had ever seen before in his career as the shatterdome’s chief LOCCENT manager.
“Huh..?” Torque muttered to himself as the creature shot towards the surface like a cork, quickly fading from the deep-sea sensor net. That was unusual, most Kaiju would run deep once they breached, sticking close to the ocean floor until shallower water forced them up.
Another sensor picked the Kaiju up near the surface, a bright racing blip against the cold ocean, before it yet again vanished.
“Odd.” Torque summarised, blinking in confusion at his boards as they returned to their normal readouts. He stood from his station and strolled around the control centre as calmly as he could, confirming with each of the twenty odd technicians under his watch that their scopes were clear. After a half-hour of diagnostics and rechecking the sensor data, Torque was left just as confused as when he had started. The only thing worse than a Kaiju was a Kaiju that refused to play by the rules.
His mind flashed back to Thresher; the large millipede-like creature had burrowed underground and managed to evade their sensors entirely, had this creature done something similar? He immediately dismissed the idea, they had seismic sensors recently installed to prevent such a tactic working again.
If the Kaiju wasn’t underwater or underground, then where in Tartarus was it?
He wondered if the crazy K-Science theories he’d read about had any basis. Analysis of the skin and chitinous shells of the last two Kaiju had showed them to be somewhat more capable of absorbing their sensor sweeps than the preceding ones. That sort of rapid evolution seemed just impossible to Torque though, doubly so since it was carrying over a myriad of species.
His cocoon of thoughts was burst as one the ponies manning the signal monitoring consoles paged him over.
“Sir, I’m getting some interesting chatter out at sea. From one of our boats.” She explained as he wandered over unhurriedly.
“Define Interesting.” Torque demanded. It was too early in the morning for vague mysteries and vanishing monsters. He felt the urge to find a cake or pie to take his frustration out on.
“Well, from what I can gather they picked up a large object overhead about ten minutes ago, it hasn’t responded to radio contact and is not giving off any sort of transponder.”
Torque cocked his head curiously. “Where are they?”
She studied her screen carefully, the bright light dancing across the pair of thin glasses she wore. “About two hundred kilometres from where we last had a fix on the Kaiju.”
Torque blinked, staring at the technician stupidly for a moment before it clicked.
“Oh crap.” He muttered, more to himself than anypony else, leaping back towards his console and praying to whoever might be listening that he was wrong. No, the scans were still clear, the underwater and seismic sensors still showing a distinct lack of Kaiju.
“Go get the Marshall here. Now.” Torque ordered, pointing a hoof at the first pony he saw, a scared looking intern. He let out a quiet noise of surprise before scampering off to find one of the humans.
‘No, not fins…’ Torque thought, wondering how it was possible. He’d read enough of the K-science papers to know that Kaiju were an incredibly adaptive species but this was preposterous. How could something as big as a Kaiju fly, it made no sense to him.
He patched his console into the shatterdome’s extensive communication suite, searching channels until he found what he was looking for, a link to the Apocalypse's ops room. It took another few minutes to find somepony there who could fill him in.
“We have a wing of pegasi checking it out now.” A grumpy sounding watch commander from the REN Apocalypse told him. His tone suggested to Torque that he thought the LOCCENT manager was poking his head in something that clearly wasn’t his business. “Probably just a smuggler or a off-the-books flight. They’ll have eyes on the target in a few minutes.”
“I’ll stand by.” Torque replied, going back to his screens to triple-check that he hadn’t missed anything. The watch commander hadn't seemed too receptive to his idea that the Kaiju was flying, outright calling it absurd. Torque wanted to believe him, but every shred of data he had was pointing towards the Kaiju becoming airborne.
“What have we got, Torque? Michael asked, making Torque jump a little as he appeared at his shoulder like a ghost out of mist.
“I think I found our Kaiju.” Torque said, about to explain what he had deduced. Before he could though, the irritable sounding watch commander came back in his headphones.
“Patching through the unit.” He grumped.
Torque’s heart rate immediately jumped as a slightly out of breath sounding pegasus starting talking. She was remarkably calm considering what she was reporting.
“Sir, listen.” Torque said, his jaw tight. He passed the headphones to Michael, the human pressing them to one ear as they wouldn’t fit over his head.
“It’s flying?!” He swore incredulously after a few seconds of intent listening. His jaw worked up and down, a look on his face that one would usually reserve for somepony else who was trying to pick up the mare at the bar you liked. He threw the headphones down, turned on the spot and walked to the nearest corner The entire LOCCENT went silent aside from the occasional beep of a console, everypony watching him as he stared at the floor, his arms crossed firmly across his chest and his head hung in defeat. It took a minute for him to recover his composure.
“Flying Kaiju, cool. Now what? We can’t defend against a flying Kaiju, it can hit wherever the hell it wants.” He spat furiously, more to himself than anypony in particular. Michael looked like he was about to break down again but managed to restrain himself with a deep breath.
He looked Torque in the eye. “Okay, get every Jaeger ready to deploy and hooked up to their Broadways now, let Soarin know what’s happening and have his teams on alert. I don’t think it’d go that far north because that means covering half of Equestria but I’ll be damned if this thing catches us with our pants down again. Keep tabs on this bastard, as soon as we know where it's going, I want Jaegers there.”
“What about Everfree Bandit?”
“Get a message to them, they’ll have a head start on any inland target at least. I don’t like sending them in without support but it means we have a Jaeger on the ground half an hour earlier, we’re doing it.” He growled, rubbing a hand through his coarse hair.
Everypony stared at him silently.
“What are you waiting for, get on it!” He snapped.
The shout was enough to get everypony back to work, ponies turning back to their consoles to get the relevant messages out.
“Michael…” Torque started.
Michael threw him a desperate look. “Sorry, this is just... “ He ground his teeth together. “This is bullshit.”
Torque wanted to say something clever but nothing came to mind. Instead he settled for nodding silently. There was something terrifying about seeing him so worked up about a Kaiju, he and Shane had fought against the monsters for years before they had arrived in Equestria and everypony had started to assume they knew all the tricks in the book. Clearly this was something very new.
Michael shook his head slightly, letting out a long breath. “Better get the old girl ready, excuse me.” He uttered darkly before stalking out of the control centre.
Suddenly with nothing to do, Torque fell back into his chair and rubbed his hooves through his mane stressfully. He was suddenly, painfully aware how tired he was. Torque checked the time on his console, it would be dawn in another hour or so. His shift was supposed to finish not long after, though with the sudden Kaiju breach that was more likely to be a pipedream. He let out a long sigh of exasperation as he leaned his head back into his chair, wondering what he’d done to make the universe hate him.
***
It was a typical summer afternoon for Canterlot, hot and dry like the inside of an oven. A slight breeze did some to take the heat away but many of the city’s citizens were staying indoors, under fans or tucked away in their air-conditioned homes or shelters. Those that still remained, at least.
Celestia had neither such luxury. The royal palace’s ancient rooms had been designed with neither in mind, though they had at least been cunningly designed to promote airflow and the thick walls did something to shield its occupants the heat.
She felt another trickle of sweat run down her neck as she lounged in her chambers, reading over the latest reports from the Treasury, Agriculture and Home departments. Strictly not her business, but Celestia enjoyed keeping up to date on her nation’s doings and nopony would dare deny her the small pleasure. The alicorn’s discomfort did not come from the heat though.
Celestia lowered the papers she had been reading with a sigh and nervously looked out one of the windows ornately carved into the white stone. It would be evening soon, though she did not look forward to the cool change darkness would bring. In her mind the night was now solely the harbinger of something much fouler.
The emergence of this new Kaiju, Harpy they called it, had been a great shock to her. Though the incursion of the monsters had almost become routine now, the coming of this new airborne threat had made Celestia nervous. She had stayed updated on the beast as it had been tracked throughout the day. Its speed was phenomenal, it had crossed the coast a few hundred kilometres south of Manehatten and continued inland with an unnerving precision. The mighty Jaegers of the Manehatten shatterdome had been powerless to stop the creature and although initially tied down along the coast, had swiftly given chase, though their transports were considerably slower than the soaring creature from what she gathered.
The hours had inexorably slipped by and as each new update trickled in the news only got worse. After a few hours of tracking the airborne Kaiju’s path, its target had become abundantly clear.
Celestia fidgeted nervously, wondering how much longer it would take to arrive. Much of the city had already been evacuated, but Canterlot had become home to many fleeing to the perceived safety of Equestria’s heartlands. There were still tens, if not hundreds, of thousands still being transported out by the city’s force of overburdened guards.
A private airship, no doubt belonging to one of the city’s aristocrats, zipped by the window, a flash of shining metal against the slowly darkening sky. Celestia watched with a trace of amusement as one of the Royal Guard’s mighty airships, Solar Prophet, quickly intercepted and boarded the yacht. Within a few minutes it was back in the city, no doubt having been ‘requisitioned’ to help with the evacuation. Celestia expected whoever owned the ship in question would no doubt complain to her about its seizure at some point.
A sharp knock on the door tore her gaze away from the window.
“Enter.” She said cooly, already knowing her Captain of the Guard was on the other side.
“Princess.” Shining Armour bowed slightly as he pushed the door open.
“I assume you’re here to try and convince me to leave again?” Celestia guessed flatly.
Shining Armour let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, princess.” He snapped as politely as possible. “We don’t have long before this creature arrives, our latest estimates put it only an hour away. I personally think leaving is a very good idea”
Celestia bit her tongue silently. After a moment she rose from her lounge and trotted over to the window. Although the city proper was too far below her to make out anything between the buildings, she knew it would still be crowded with ponies evacuating the city.
“How many are left?” She asked softly.
“Too many.” Shining Armour replied after a moment of silence.
Celestia sighed. Leaving would’ve been the sensible move, but it didn’t sit right with her. “I can not leave them at the mercy of this creature.” She spoke softly yet her voice was laced with conviction. “I will fight for them, if I must.”
“You can’t fight a Kaiju.” Shining Armour pointed out pragmatically.
Celestia shook her head. “No, perhaps not.” She agreed. “But somepony must try.”
Shining Armour harrumphed quietly. “You know, your sister said the exact same thing.”
Celestia smiled wryly. “I guessed as much. She’s awake then?” She asked, giving the sprawling city a hard look before turning on her heel and striding regally from her room without waiting for an answer. Shining Armour followed in her wake like an aggrieved parent.
“You know, just for once, I thought you might actually take a risk to your personal security seriously.” Shining Armour admonished her. “It would be nice to be able to leave you alone for a day without you sticking your head in a manticore’s mouth.”
“You sound like my mother.” Celestia sighed. “You just want to suck all the fun out of life. ‘No Celly, no jumping on turtles’, ‘No Celly, don’t do the thing.’” She mimicked.
“There’s a difference between going down to the local bakery unannounced and fighting a monster bigger than an Ursa.” Shining Armour pleaded exasperatedly.
Celestia stopped abruptly and looked down at her captain of the guard. “Shining Armour, I appreciate your counsel and I understand your point, but you are asking me to flee and leave my subjects to their doom...”
“The Royal Guard will fight for you.” Shining Armour pointed out.
Celestia spread her wings indignantly, her massive white feathers gleaming in the orange afternoon sun which filtered through the windows. “So they can fight, but not me? Do you forget me, sir?” She asked, her voice booming with authority.
Shining Armour shrunk slightly. “Of course not ma’am, but if you-.”
“Good grief, since when did you become my father?” Celestia groaned, silencing Shining Armour with a glare out of the corner of her eye. She stopped outside of Luna’s chambers and knocked on the door.
After a moment the door opened and Luna’s head appeared out of the darkness beyond. Unlike Celestia’s chambers which were open to the light and full of bright decor, Luna had her curtains drawn and her room filled with subdued colours. A few lamps glowed dimly from the black chandelier above and cast deep shadows across the alicorn’s parlour.
Luna had a black mug filled with something dark and bitter smelling floating a few inches from her face. The words ‘I hate Mondays’ printed across the cup had been tastelessly edited to ‘I hate days’ with a crude red marker. Though her mane was disheveled and her wings unkempt, her blue eyes burnt bright with energy.
“Good afternoon.” Celestia said curtly. “May I come in?”
Luna stood aside wordlessly, allowing Celestia to enter her suite. Celestia puckered her lips wordlessly, it was much messier than her own rooms and she nearly tripped over something in the gloom.
“A drink, sister?” Luna offered.
“Later, perhaps. I’m sure we’ll need something strong.” Celestia said, magically opening of the curtains and allowing the bright afternoon light to filter in.
Luna winced. “Was that really necessary?” She complained. In the light, Celestia could see her sister looked much more bedraggled. Luna didn’t look like she’d been sleeping much.
“Sorry.” Celestia apologised, closing the curtain again. “How long has it been since you’ve been outside?”
“During the day? A while.” Luna said, stifling a yawn. “The nights have been… busy. Sorry for all the mess.” She added, picking up a few scattered mugs and bowls off the floor and depositing them on an already overflowing sideboard.
“It’s that bad?” Celestia asked.
Luna flinched slightly. “So many terrors... so many fears worm their way into the mind in the darkness. There are more than just the monsters from within that haunt us…” She trailed off. “We have a monster of our own to deal with now.”
Celestia nodded. “Indeed.”
“I felt it rise in the night.” Luna whispered. “Even in the dreamscape I could feel something… an unspeakable malice bearing down on me. There were no good dreams had last night.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow curiously but Luna did not elaborate. While Celestia was a master of many of the world’s magics, she understood little of the mysterious realms Luna ventured into. Her sister had tried explaining it once, but it was an art beyond Celestia.
“I assume you are here to ask me to flee.” Luna sighed with resignation, taking a sip of her foul smelling drink. “It would be the sensible choice.”
Shining Armour made a relieved sound, muttering something under his breath about common sense.
“Actually, I was going to ask if you fight alongside me.” Celestia put forward. “Canterlot is still being evacuated, and the although the best we can hope for is to buy some time… it is all we can do. It is what we must do.”
Luna nodded in agreement, perking up slightly as she realised Celestia wasn’t going to force her away. “So do you have a plan then?”
“Well it’s pretty much like this…”
***
Half an hour later, Celestia and Luna set out from the palace, leaving a practically fuming Shining Armour to await their return. Celestia’s plan was simple, try and distract the Kaiju and draw it away from the city, hopefully until a Jaeger could show up to deal with it. Being the bait in her own plan wasn’t the best idea Celestia had ever come up with, but given the time and lack of resources on hand, it would have to do.
Harpy was now visible from the city, a tiny black smudge in the slowly darkening sky. A knot of apprehension started to form in Celestia’s gut as she watched and waited, she had been in battle more times than she could readily remember across her lifetime, but only once had she dared take on something quite on the scale as this.
She grimaced, remembering how successful her attacks on the monster Switchback had been. She turned to Luna, noting the dark look on her sister’s face. Like Celestia she seemed to harbour some reservations now that the time had come.
“We should move.” Celestia murmured, spreading her wings and taking flight before her courage failed her. Luna followed close behind, the two alicorns making a beeline towards the approaching Kaiju.
Celestia soared out over the city, her massive wings beating slowly as she glided towards the approaching speck. Behind them, Solar Prophet and its sister ship Night of Solace rose from Canterlot, their engines roaring and weapons gleaming dangerously in the setting sun.
“I would just like to say, for the record, this is not your best plan.” Luna said from beside her.
“Well if you have a better one....” Celestia replied dryly as they neared the edge of the faint purple shield Shining Armour had established around the city.
Harpy was no longer a small speck, the Kaiju soaring towards them at a frightening pace. As it closed, Celestia could start to make out its hideous features. It looked almost like one of the Wyverns of legend, though as Harpy drew closer she could make out no trace of scales covering its charcoal grey skin. Electric blue light shone from its wing membranes and its body was covered in strange alien tattoos dancing with colour. A long, knife-like horn jutted from the crown of its small head. Even from inside the shield Celestia could smell it, a rank mixture of rotting fish, smoke and death which clung to the back of her throat.
There was something else as well; a foul, almost palpable miasma which incited fear, hatred and wanton destruction clung to the creature and permeated the air around it. Just looking at it made Celestia's blood boil with anger. As the creature drew inexorably closer the sensation grew stronger.
Now only a few hundred metres from the shield Harpy seemed to take up the entire sky. Its wingspan dwarfed even the two mighty airships which buzzed behind Celestia noisily.
The Kaiju didn’t even slow its pace for the shield, slamming head first into the barrier with an impact that shook Celestia’s teeth. Incredibly, Harpy didn’t immediately breach it, the Kaiju slipping along the skin of the wall like it was sliding across a frozen lake and eliciting a perfect, high pitched ringing note that made Celestia’s fur stand up on end. The magical barrier flared solid white before suddenly collapsing as Shining Armour presumably lowered the barrier.
The Kaiju pitched over as the magical resistance suddenly vanished, dropping nearly a hundred metres before regaining control. It missed the two alicorns, gliding past them without as much as a squeak in their direction.
“Well, that worked!” Luna exclaimed dryly, powering after Celestia as she struggled to keep up with the flying Kaiju. Night of Solace and Solar Prophet wheeled about to desperately avoid a collision with the Kaiju, Harpy missing the later by mere metres.
Celestia pumped her wings furiously, finally drawing level with Harpy. The Kaiju finally seemed to notice her presence, one of its burning eyes slowly turning around and locking onto her with an almost haunting sense of curiosity. Before Celestia could true to cast a spell on the creature, its jaws split apart, a snaking tongue lolling out and tasting the air with savage glee. A moment later hideously equine scream split the air, a piercing wail pouring out from the Kaiju’s maw like a tidal wave.
Celestia felt a tremendous blow suddenly force itself down on her consciousness, a wailing, cascade of incomprehensible gibbering and alien howls pressing down on her like an anvil. Time seemed to slow as what felt like an entire world of mad and impossible beasts invaded her thoughts. Celestia’s senses were flooded by the urge to maim and destroy. She found herself howling with primal rage, picturing the slaughter of millions, rending rock and earth apart in animalistic fury, laughing at the death of worlds and stars, her only desire to-
Celestia missed a wingbeat, the remnants of a sob escaping her mouth as Harpy’s macabre wail faded and the terrifying visions left her mind. She looked around with horror, realising that her sister had vanished.
“Luna!” She cried, spotting the catatonic form of her sister hurtling towards the ground lifelessly. Celestia tried to capture her within a field of magic but she couldn’t concentrate, a incessant tidal wave of emotion and evil thoughts clouding her mind. She powered on, quickly catching up to Luna and cradling her delicately in her forehooves. Celestia could feel her sister’s panic, her breaths quick and her heart racing like a hummingbird in her chest. Another direct assault on Harpy seemed a poor choice, so Celestia grudgingly pulled away from the monstrous creature and made a beeline back to the palace, leaving the circling Kaiju to the two roaring airships closing in on it.
Shining Armour was waiting where she and Luna had left him, brazenly glaring at Harpy with complete disregard at her last order to him to find shelter. He bolted over to her as she landed, his face wrought with dismay as he saw the unconscious Luna.
“What’s wrong with her?” Shining Armour demanded, gently taking Luna from her.
“I d-don’t know.” Celestia stammered helplessly. “Its scream…”
“Knocked her out cold.” Shining Armour observed. “She’s alive at least.” He looked up as Harpy let loose a deep beastial roar above them as the two airships started engaging it. “We need to get out of here. Can you teleport us out?”
Celestia winced, struggling to focus and push through the lances of pain which clung to her mind. “I’m not sure.” She murmured, a few sparks of stray magic fizzling from her horn uselessly.
Shining Armour grimaced. “Okay, the war chamber is the best place to be then, I think Harpy would even have trouble digging through the mountain.” He guessed.
“I wouldn’t put anything past it at this point.” Celestia groaned, setting off after Shining Armour as quickly as she could manage. They came to the end of a hall and into a courtyard large enough that Harpy could have lain down with room to spare. Usually occupied by a mixture of aristocrats, tourists and palace staff, the gardens were eerily lifeless.
The sky was filled with chaos however, Harpy locked in battle with the two lumbering airships. Bursts of cannon fire and streaks of rockets lit up the dusk sky, the annoyed roars of Harpy mixing with the constant thud of quick loading guns and buzz of engines. Harpy backed away from the storm of fire, clawing to the side of the mountain and roaring at the airships.
As Celestia watched, Solar Prophet came about on the seemingly confused Kaiju, spitting shell and rocket at the beast in a incessant blizzard of fire and smoke. Night of Solace took up a perfect crossfire position, blasting away at the monster with its own gun decks.
For a few moments, it looked like Harpy had met its match. The overwhelming storm of fire was taking its toll, dozens of small craters starting to pockmark the Kaiju’s skin and weep blood. It roared with irritation, hiding its face behind one of its leathery wings as it clung stubbornly to the side of the mountain. Celestia dared to hope for a minute that the two massive airships would convince the Kaiju to go find something less troublesome to play with.
That unfortunately wasn’t the case, the beast swiftly taking wing again, shooting up several hundred metres before plunging back on Solar Prophet, claws outstretched and its wings flared.
“Oh da-.” Shining Armour swore before the mighty airship buckled, its back breaking in an instant as the Kaiju’s monstrous claws punched through it like tinfoil. Solar Prophet lurched sickeningly like it had hit a pocket of turbulence before Harpy released it, the airship spiralling out of control for a few seconds before careening into the side of the mountain with a titanic crunch.
“The bunker is on the other side! Move! Now!” Shining Armour barked as the airship pitched over, rolling down the mountain towards the palace.
Celestia didn’t need telling twice, making for the other end of the gardens as quickly as she could. It was a race against gravity, the airship’s bow piercing one of the palace’s towers and toppling it like a child might demolish a tower of blocks.
The small group made it across with seconds to spare, the airship careening sideways as its prow lodged into the ground and sweeping the hulk across the courtyard. A fire raging inside Solar Prophet must have found something vital, as the airship’s magazine went up; a billowing fireball washing out over the courtyard and blasting Celestia and Shining Armour off their hooves.
With a sickening groan, the wall adjoining the courtyard bowed inwards, loose rubble and masonry.pelting the group as they gawped with horror. Celestia barely had time to hear a shout of warning before the entire wall toppled over with a sickening slowness. She turned to flee, barely making it three steps before something hard slammed her back and she saw no more.
***
The sharp taste of smoke clinging to the back of her throat greeted Celestia as her vision slowly swum back into focus. The pristine hall of the palace had been replaced by a scene of chaos. Fires licked greedily at the twisted wreck of Solar Prophet, columns of smoke twisting and curling around the ruins of the palace like slender fingers. A hellish orange glow bathed the rubble and cast deep shadows. Somewhere above, Celestia could still hear the sound of cannon fire and Harpy’s slow wingbeat. There was a pair of metallic shrieks, a shudder and then only the crackle of fires and the slithering of cascading stonework.
She groaned, a few trickles of rubble trickling down her side as she stirred. Shining Armour and Luna were nowhere to be seen, presumably buried the piles of rubble which now made up the wing of the palace. Celestia struggled back to her hooves, weakly calling out her sister’s name. The fire and smoke obscured her vision and burnt her lungs but she stumbled on, forcing herself away from the carnage. She soon found Luna half buried in the rubble, tripping over her sister’s prone form before realising it was there. She fell onto her side, looking up at the smoke choked sky. Harpy was nowhere to be seen, though she could still feel its overbearing miasma pressing down on her. She gritted her teeth, trying to force the horrific, hate-fuelled visions of death from her mind.
Then, with all of its horrifying magnificence, Harpy appeared above, slowly circling the half-ruined palace. Its wings beating methodically, its head turning on its snake-like neck as it searched the collapsed architecture. The fight hadn't gone completely its way though, hundreds of small wounds pockmarking its skin and a long, deep gash along the Kaiju’s face wept blood. About three-quarters of its horn was cleanly snapped off, leaving a ragged stump in its place. It landed against the side of one of the palace’s bulbous towers, seeming to sniff the smoke choked air. It surveyed the destruction for a moment before suddenly looking down, its gaze fixing on her as if guided by a homing spell. A gurgle escaped its throat and it awkwardly started to edge its way down the side of the palace.
Celestia could hear the masonry crunch and crack under its weight as the massive creature started to worm its way downward. She ignored the rain of debris which startled falling around her, for the first time in living memory simply shocked into submission.
Harpy screeched again, a long, despairing wail which sent Celestia into another fit of agonising misery as the Kaiju’s scream bore down on her, tearing and ripping at the edge of her mind. The screech abruptly cut off, Harpy slithering down further towards her, one of its massive clawed talons slammed into the piazza barely thirty metres away as it stooped down inquisitively. A foul mixture of tanned leather, death and sulphur washed over Celestia as the Kaiju’s head snaked closer, cocked slightly to the side in a curious manner. It let out a hiss and sniffed at the prone form of Luna cautiously, its tongue slipping out and tasting the air around the princesses. Harpy gave Luna a gentle nudge with the edge of its head, two long drooping vine-like feelers hanging from the bottom of its jaw examining her inquisitively.
Celestia forced herself upright, ignoring the pounding in her head as the remnants of the Kaiju’s hellish scream faded from her senses. The massive Kaiju turned slowly to look at her, like a curious foal might examine an ant. It hissed with interest, its head tilting from side to side and a few globs of spit drooling out of its mouth and melting the cobblestones below.
“Touch my sister again and I will make you regret it.” Celestia growled, bending her head low and pawing at the ground. She could taste blood, the bitter metallic taste rousing something dark and dangerous in the vestiges of her mind. Luna had told her once that to fight the darkest terrors, using something darker and fouler was sometimes needed. It had never struck Celestia as the wisest of things, but now, faced with something surely crafted in the lowest pits of Tartarus itself, she could see the reasoning behind it. Only a monster could slay another monster.
The Kaiju blinked, the ground shaking as its other massive claw came down into the courtyard. It slid its head closer towards Celestia, its tongue quickly slipping in and out out past the edge of its gruesome maw. It could taste her, taste her fear, her anger. Harpy’s jaw twitched slightly as if somehow trying to form a crude smile. It spread its wings wide, blotting the sinking sun out and illuminating the entire courtyard with a sharp electric blue. Although it could not speak any tongue Celestia could understand, its body language was unmistakable.
Try me.
Celestia obliged, allowing herself to succumb to the beastial, bloodthristy urges which Harpy ravaged her mind with. A surge of panic lanced through her as the darkness swiftly took hold, greedily filling her body and quenching her fear as quickly as it had emerged. Shapeless blobs of darkness pulsated from her horn, a ghostly purple aura wisping from her eyes like steam. The darkness grew uncontrollably like a cancer, smothering and stealing the light from Harpy’s wings and clawing at the Kaiju malevolently. Harpy’s aura of smugness faltered, the creature trying to back away with a pathetic mewl of fear. The nothingness didn't let it, unnameable, impossible shapes gripping and holding the Kaiju in place like chains. A knife of immaculate darkness caressed the side of Harpy’s head, searing the surface to a blackened husk and sloughing sheets of flesh off the Kaiju’s face in blankets of ash. An entire row of the Kaiju’s eyes were obliterated, the black wave of ripping away its body until the ridges of the Kaiju’s skull started to appear against its blackened wound.
Harpy screamed again, a scream of pure terror replacing the high pitched wail that had incapacitated Celestia before. Harpy writhed and snapped, black clumps of half-melted skin, sinew and muscle spraying the courtyard as it ripped its body free of the black cloud. It pitched over drunkenly, bashing its raw skull against the rubble of the royal palace and flailing wildly as the dark strands fiendishly fought to restrain it.
Celestia’s didn’t even register the fact, finding herself laughing despite everything as she drove the power she wielded over and over into the Kaiju’s head. She delighted in the savage thrill that came from the pain she was inflicting, drinking in the sounds of pain and terror which came from the pitiful beast which had dared attack her. She would punish it, rip it apart piece by piece, atom by atom and eradicate its very essence from living memory-
One of Harpy’s thrashing wing membranes suddenly clipped her, sending Celestia slamming into a wall with a bone-crushing impact. The darkness suddenly retreated, fizzing out weakly around her as Celestia momentarily blacked out. She was vaguely aware of the Kaiju rallying, almost half of its face now replaced by a wicked mask of bone and half-melted flesh. Her head swam with dark thoughts and Celestia immediately regretted what powers she had called upon to try and banish Harpy. She tried to stand, to flee, her legs immediately giving out as she tried to rise. It was a hopeless errand, Harpy staggering back at her with its face of bone. It roared deeply, raising one of its massive claws over her and bringing it down without hesitation. Celestia felt the darkness close in and she did nothing, no last hurrah, no last moment of defiance. She had fought, bartered with her soul and lost. She closed her eyes, almost welcoming the coming oblivion.
The sound rang out around her, echoing off the courtyard and resonating perfectly in the dry evening air. It was beautiful yet chilling at the same time, drilling into her skull like a death knell. Celestia contemplated the perfect, fading note for a moment before realising she wasn’t, in fact, dead. She open her eyes, amazed to see a shimmering white dome of energy surrounding her. The barrier stabilised and the shimmering barrier of light flickered back to a royal purple as the sound faded from her ears.
Harpy seemed just as surprised as she was, its foot jarred to a halt a metre above her. It slammed its claw back down with a frustrated screech, making the barrier flicker white again. Celestia looked around for the source, surprised to see a bloodied and battered Shining Armour, illuminated by a brilliant aura of purple light spilling from his horn. Apart from his eyes, he looked every part the white knight of legend.
For his eyes were open wide, his pupils contracted into small dots of fear. Whether at the enormity of the Kaiju or something else, Celestia didn’t know. Had he seen her court with the darkness? Shining Armour had fought the dark powers before, he had seen the horror they could bring firsthand. If he had seen her so happily succumb to its urges would he ever trust her again?
Thankfully it seemed like a bridge that would be crossed later, as Shining Armour yelled, “Princess! Get ready to move!” He staggered as Harpy slammed its foot against the barrier again, gritting his teeth with effort.
“Ready?” Celestia choked with disbelief, still completely overwhelmed by her sudden change in fortune.
“Run!” Shining Armour ordered, dropping the field and losing a blinding spike of magic right into the surprised Kaiju’s face. It didn’t do much more than tick it off, but at this point, every last bit helped. He paused a moment, capturing the still prone form of Luna in a telekinetic field and bolted like he was being chased by all of Tartarus itself.
Celestia groaned weakly, barely able to stand, let alone run. Even if she could flee, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from the Kaiju. Most of the palace was crumbling around them and unless Harpy decided to just leave, they were trapped.
Quickly recovering its wits, Harpy snaked after them, its tail thrashing at the palace and screaming noisily like it were a child that had its favourite toy taken away. The citadel which had stood for over a thousand years was torn down in seconds as the Kaiju scrambled after them. Even at full gallop it would’ve been futile to try and outrun it, the flat out speed of the beast was simply astonishing for something of its size.
Barely fifty metres separated her and the Kaiju when a shadow swooped past overheard and the sound of rotors cut over the sound of the Kaiju’s tantrum. Celestia staggered as the ground shuddered again, a metal foot slamming into the ground barely five metres behind her. She craned her head back in wonder as a massive Jaeger loomed out of the smoke and fires, recovered from its rough landing and rose to face the Kaiju. Its horn sounded, shaking the very air as it bellowed a challenge
“That’s a Jaeger!” Shining Armour exclaimed in disbelief, his voice being swept away by the sound of cracking masonry, the hiss of hydraulics and the hearty thrum of the Jaeger’s reactor.
“It’s Everfree Bandit.” Celestia whispered in awe, her mouth hanging open in amazement as the Jaeger stood upright. It looked every part a god, standing tall and fearless through the smoke and fire with the golden sunlight gleaming brightly off its armour.
She felt Shining Armour grab her, pulling her away from the impending fight but her body resisted, some part of her wanting to stay watch the titans clash on her doorstep. It was fascinating yet terrifying to watch, like a train derailing in slow motion. Everfree Bandit didn’t waste any time taunting the Kaiju and jumped straight into action, closing the tiny gap with a single bounding step. Even with half of its face missing, Harpy was all to happy to oblige, launching itself at the newly arrived Jaeger with an shrill shriek.
The fight was about to go up a level.
***
“We’re here!” Pinkie sang, immediately readying the Jaeger for contact as they touched down with an earth-shattering crack. Maud blinked back flatly, her eagerness positively bursting over the neural link. Like Pinkie she was eager to stretch their limbs after the long flight from the Proving Grounds, though she was more intent on using the Kaiju as a test bed for their Jaeger than Pinkie was. Pinkie sounded the Jaeger’s foghorn, delighting in the positively terrific sound that bellowed from Everfree Bandit's chest. Harpy screeched back, throwing itself at the Jaeger, claws outstretched greedily.
The two sisters leapt forward recklessly, the nimble Jaeger darting around Harpy’s claws and wrapping its arms around the Kaiju’s midsection as they slammed into it. The force threw the Kaiju backwards and the two titans tumbled around like toys caught in washing machine. They crushed an entire wing of the ruined palace to dust under their weight, the edge of Canterlot’s upper tier drawing dangerously close as the two giants rolled towards it with reckless abandon. Punches, kicks and slashes were traded between the monster and the machine, claws screeching off armour and the wet smack of metal against flesh echoing across the city with a pace and rhythm like a hellish orchestra. As the open drop loomed closer, neither Pinkie nor Maud made any attempt to slow their erratic tumble, kicking the Jaeger right over the edge of the city with Harpy in tow and plunging into freefall.
Now completely airborne, Everfree Bandit laid in with gusto, fists flying and pistons firing as its pilots bashed Harpy’s skull in like a boxer would pummel punching bag. Harpy screeched, pushing them off and trying to re-right itself but the two sisters latched themselves back on with the stubbornness of a tic, wrapping one massive hand around the Kaiju’s neck and using the other to thrash any part of the creature they could reach. Cracks and fractures started to fissure along the Kaiju’s skull as the Jaeger got to work.
“Welcome to Equestria!” Pinkie sang, seemingly oblivious to the fact they were hurtling uncontrollably through the air. “Enjoy! Your! Stay!” She added, Maud punctuating each word with a piston punch to the Kaiju’s jaw or chest. The Jaeger tightened its grip around Harpy’s neck, clutching to it with the tenacity akin to how a castaway might’ve clung to their liferaft.
Harpy yowled in pain, unable to organise a proper counter-attack before the next tier of the city rushed up to meet them. The Kaiju slammed home first with a deafening crack that shook the entire city, sending tons of polished stone, earth and concrete sloughing down the mountainside. Harpy managed to kick the Jaeger off, Everfree Bandit tumbling away and crushing an entire block beneath its bulk before regaining its footing with a well executed roll. The Kaiju picked itself up weakly, spreading its wings and pushing off the ground in a desperate attempt to flee. It didn’t get far, Pinkie and Maud leaping up after it, grabbing its leg and dragging it back to earth with another blast of the Jaeger’s horn. The two titans fell back to earth and tumbled across the lower reaches of Canterlot in an ugly ball of punches, kicks and swipes. With a sickening crack, the district of the city they were fighting across broke free of the mountainside, cascading away with a slow magnificence like water over the lip of a waterfall. Harpy and Everfree were suddenly back in freefall. Swept up in the rapture of battle, neither Maud nor Pinkie seemed to really pay it much mind.
Despite the change in footing, Everfree Bandit continued punishing the tumbling Kaiju, kneeing, elbowing and punching it at every opportunity it could. Harpy managed to pierce the Jaeger’s left shoulder with one of its massive taloned feet, but a piece of debris the size of one of the massive Jaeger bay doors back in Manehatten crashed into it, ripping the claw away from the Jaeger along with a spray of shredded metal and cabling.
“Oh, this leather is so supple!” Pinkie remarked cheerily, ignoring both the multitude of warnings that crisscrossed the screen and the slowly spreading fire of pain in her shoulder and headbutting the Kaiju. Harpy’s jaw finally split in half from the impact, the bone shattering under the Jaeger’s continual abuse and showering the conpod with fragments of bone and a thin layer of blood.
Any further attempt to comment on the situation was drowned out as Harpy’s wing clipped the side of the mountain with a gut-wrenching crack of bone and flesh. The impact sent the two giants bouncing away from the cliff like two leaves caught in a strong breeze.
Everfree Bandit was unfazed, attaching itself back to Harpy with no regard for their almost suicidal spin.
“Hey, Maud! A rock! See if grumpy-wumpy Harpy likes rocks!” Pinkie invited as Maud plucked a chunk of concrete the size of the Kaiju’s head from the air around them and slammed it against the side of Harpy’s face like it was a mascara brush.
Harpy obviously didn’t like rocks as its roars of pain rose sharply in protest.
With a screech which penetrated the conpod, Harpy finally kicked Everfree Bandit away and desperately tried to spread its wings and pull out of the sharp dive. It was a fruitless task though and the only thing Harpy ended up achieving was breaking its already injured wing and spiraling even further out of control.
On the plus side though, Everfree Bandit was too far away to hit it again.
“Eight hundred metres to ground contact.” The computer growled, alarms singing loudly from every inch of the conpod. Many systems had been damaged in the reckless tumble and subsequent fall and the Jaeger’s damaged shoulder was starting to feel sluggish.
“Pinkie, we are falling.” Maud pointed out as if the thought had only just occurred to her. The rational part of her mind was already at work trying to figure out how they could avert, or at least mitigate the inevitable hard stop at the end.
If the single thought that blared back across the neural link, a long drawn out ‘WHEEE!’ and the look of pure bliss on her sister’s face was anything to go by, Pinkie obviously didn’t think it was that much of a problem. Pinkie was having the time of her life, she’d never enjoyed fighting all that much but being hooked into Everfree Bandit seemed to tap some deep seated visceral thrill for fighting. The Jaeger wanted it, so Pinkie wanted it. The adrenaline pumping thrill of base jumping in a three-thousand ton war machine was just the cherry on top.
A lightning fast mental conversation followed, Maud repeatedly driving home the fact they were falling until Pinkie finally grasped the gravity of the situation and started pulling the Jaeger into a semblance of a brace position. To any normal pony, the speed at which the two pilots managed to discuss, debate and work on the finer points of landing a steel titan the size of a skyscraper would’ve been completely beyond them, but for the two sisters it felt like they were falling through jelly, the altimetre clicking down with almost unbearable slowness as they conversed over the neural link.
“Two hundred metres to ground contact.” The computer said coolly as the crystal blue waters of Wagtail Lake rushed up to greet them. They impacted a moment before Harpy, two massive plumes of water shooting up into the sky as the pair of giants hammered into the water one after the other.
The lake was only twenty or so metres deep, so the Jaeger slammed into the bottom of the lake with a sharp crash, the water doing little to break their descent from the city above. The entire Conpod shook violently, the shock absorbers unable to deal with the massive force of the Jaeger ploughing into the lakebed. Several seals and gaskets blew open and a score of warning lights flashed on to replace the ones which had vanished. The whole machine seemed to just keep on shaking, so hard that for a moment Pinkie and Maud feared it might simply fall apart. Chunks of Canterlot rained down around them, sending plumes of water into the air and rattling off their heavy armour with sharp thuds. A particularly large piece clipped the conpod and shattered into a hundred pieces, the impact making the Jaeger's lights go dark for a moment.
Eventually, the noise stopped. Everfree Bandit hunched over in a thirty metre deep crater of its own making.
“Pinkie?” Maud asked as the neural bridge between her and Pinkie spluttered.
“A-okay!” Pinkie said back cheerfully as the computer recovered and reestablished the link. They were both breathing heavily and the insides of their circuitry suits were soaked with sweat.
While the Jaeger hadn’t been designed with two kilometre dives in mind, Everfree Bandit had come off rather well. Many plates of armour had warped or bent, allowing water to flood some areas of the Jaeger, the Jaeger’s right knee structural integrity had almost collapsed and a few secondary systems had been shaken loose but all things considered, the Jaeger and its pilots weren’t much worse for wear. A heavy cloud of mist, dust and debris settled around Everfree Bandit, cutting visibility down to a few metres and pattering down on the roof of the conpod with a gentle, soothing sound completely at odds with the adrenaline racing excitement which had got them here. The occasional rumble of debris cascading down the mountainside still occasionally reached their ears.
Harpy was nowhere to be seen.
A scanner pinged once, a shrill beep as it picked up the telltale radiation signature of a large Kaiju.
“It’s still alive.” Maud hissed, a slight trace of caution and respect entering her voice. She flicked through the Jaeger remaining cameras but was unable to make out any sign of the beast. The scanner still beeped quietly, stubbornly insisting the Kaiju was slowly closing in on them.
“Not for much longer.” Pinkie quipped, sliding her left foreleg back and forth like she was cocking a rifle. The Jaeger’s right hand quickly split apart in response, the fingers sliding around on their mounts and locking back against the palm as they formed the tip of the Jaeger’s energy caster. A sharp crackle and the hum of electricity split the air; a bright, purple light arcing around the tip of the Everfree Bandit’s hand as the primitive energy weapon built up charge.
The two sisters then waited patiently, their crackling left arm bathing the scene with an electric purple glow.
A final proximity warning sounded, Maud and Pinkie simultaneously spinning around and releasing the pent up charge at the figure which came screaming out the mist at them.
A sheet of supercharged purple fire leapt from Everfree Bandit’s forearm with a sharp crack, the surrounding mist instantly flashing away from the heat. Pinkie had a moment to see the snarling form of Harpy silhouetted behind the blast. The Kaiju was battered and bleeding, its face poured blood and other, less identifiable bodily fluids. Its neck was bent at an obscene angle that looked like it had been broken in at least two places. One wing was completely limp, trailing like a torn sail behind the Kaiju. It had a moment to roar defiantly before the ravening pulse of energy exploded in its face.
A loud tearing sound and the smell of cooking flesh filled the air as Everfree Bandit’s energy caster tore through Harpy like a hot knife carving butter. The Kaiju’s head caught fire first, before suddenly melting away in steaming streams of flesh, muscle and bone. The start of a horrified scream escaped the Kaiju’s throat before it too, was atomised.
A creature that had no doubt taken hundreds, if not thousands of years to grow and evolve on some alien world melted away in moments as Pinkie and Maud cycled the energy caster as quickly as its capacitors would allow them. Within seconds the only indication that Harpy ever had a head was the ragged, cauterised stump of its neck.
Harpy’s body, sans head and neck flopped into the lake like a puppet with its strings cut, a wing spazzing wildly for a few moments before finally dropping.
Everfree Bandit watched its downed foe cautiously for a few minutes, the waters of Wagtail Lake slowly settling down and lapping around the Kaiju’s bulk. The surface of the water was already turning a foul, electric shade of blue in places as the Kaiju’s noxious blood leaked out of its corpse.
Maud nodded appreciatively, cycling the weapon’s safety back on and folding away smoothly. “It’s okay I guess.” She summarised flatly, giving the closest thing to a seal of approval to the weapon as she would.
The two pilots took a moment the simply breathe, the entire Jaeger shaking slightly as they carefully took a knee to steady themselves. Pinkie and Maud looked between each other and the control console silently, a flood of emotion coursing over their mental link. With Harpy dead and the adrenaline high starting to die down, the two sisters started to realise the severity of the immense destruction they had inadvertently caused.
“We…” Pinkie gasped, her chest suddenly constricting with horror. Somewhere deep inside the shared entity of their minds, some small smidge of feeling took pleasure in what they had wrought.
“I..?” She breathed again, unable to find words to describe the sudden regret and terror she felt. Even Maud seemed visibly shaken at the implications of what they had just done.
Everfree Bandit simply purred with content