Mega Mare

by DrakeyC

Into The Woods

Mega Mare

Chapter 12 – Into the Woods

The shining white light of teleportation faded, leaving Twilight standing in front of the Golden Oaks Library. She opened her eyes and looked around. Night had fallen, casting the village in the soft light of the moon. A transparent green visor slid down over her left eye from inside her helmet, her display lighting up on it. Spike sent her all the data he had, ending with a map of the village. There weren't any hostiles around, but Twilight resolved to keep her guard up for if Spike missed something.

"Twi, we gotta be careful," Spike said. Twilight retracted the visor and looked over her shoulder to see Spike's hologram flicker into place on her new saddle. "I'm picking up massive amounts of interference from the Everfree Forest. More than anything we've ever seen before."

"It must be Luna. It's like Celestia said, she's preparing for something big."

Spike nodded. "If we head into this we won't be able to contact Celestia until we beat her. Are you ready?" Twilight turned her head forward. Ahead of her stretched the main street of Ponyville and in the distance, the trees of the Everfree Forest.

"Let's go."

Twilight set off at slow pace, keeping an eye and ear open for any signs of attack from Ponyville's alleyways and corners. But the village seemed deserted, the buildings glowing a silver-blue in the light of the moon. Twilight turned her attention to the approaching trees as they neared the edge of the village that bordered the Everfree Forest. The Everfree Forest was a place every pony heard of as a foal. It was a place of legend and nightmares, and as Twilight passed the treeline she understood why. Thorny brambles round over the trees and the path. Murky swamp water stagnated in puddles. The tree branches overhead grew together thick, blotting out the light of the moon and casting the forest into shadow. Twilight activated the light on her helmet, a light pink cone of illumination projecting forward. As she walked, she called up the history documents Spike had about the forest and the castle within

The Castle of the Two Sisters had been the ancient capital of Equestria many centuries ago, built when technology was barely able to master metal forging and glass blowing. When an unknown evil destroyed the castle the sisters abandoned it, and the Everfree Forest had grown in to consume it. The forest had become inhabited by all manner of terrifying beasts in the years since. Twilight wondered if Luna had been able to take control of any of them like she could ponies. She seemed limited to those with cybernetic implants, but researchers had tagged wildlife specimens in the Everfree so they could track and study them. Would that be enough for Luna to exert dominance over their bodies?

"Twilight, picking up something up ahead." Twilight tensed at Spike's warning. She slid her visor down and called up the instructions Celestia had left for her on how to use the armor's functions. Her horn lit up with magic, shimmering as energy channeled into the crystal on her helmet. The crystal glowed as it charged and Twilight waited, attack at the ready.

There was a rush of wind and Twilight turned her attention up. A blur of blue movement came towards her from the trees and she pulled aside, something clanging against her flank's armor. She stumbled at the impact and looked up to see what it was. A pegasus was flying overhead, wearing what looked like a dark blue and silver version of Canterlot's guard armor, a light blue eye with a black pupil staring out from the neckpiece. Two spear attachments protruded from under their wings, as she saw them Twilight realized what had hit her. The pegasus dove down and Twilight focused on her helmet's crystal, the gem pulsing as its energy diverted into her horn. A large orb of violet energy shot up, slamming into the pony's armor-covered neck and bursting into light. He jerked and flew over Twilight's head, hitting heavily on the ground and not moving.

Twilight blinked and lifted a hoof to touch the crystal on her helmet. It was still tingling with magical energy. "Wow. That really packs a punch now huh?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah. I wouldn't recommend charging it up outside of combat though, the crystal can't hold a charge for more than a few seconds without continuous focus on your part."

"Right." Twilight approached the fallen pegasus and looked over him. Assured he was safe she continued down the path beyond him. Twilight didn't get much further before another pegasus in the same armor as the first flew in from the trees, this one brandishing a pair of bladed hoofguards. Twilight dropped to the ground as the weapons raked the air and fired a charged blast into the pegasus's armor from below, dropping it to the ground. The forest path turned after that, running along a chasm. Twilight emerged into the open air where a flash of light caught her eye. She turned and saw a blast of yellow energy rushing towards her. She didn't react quickly enough, but Spike did. Her hind hooves launched off the ground, the thrusters in her boots activating and propelling her into a jump. Twilight landed awkwardly and stumbled.

"Thanks, Spike." Twilight looked at the attacker. It was a unicorn in armor styled the same as the pegasi, a large energy cannon strapped to his side. His horn glowed, the end of the cannon lighting up again. Twilight waited, the crystal on her helmet charging power. The cannon fired and Twilight activated the thruster boots again, leaping through the air and lowering her head to point her horn forward. The massive concussive blast hit the unicorn straight-on, knocking him backwards to lay on his wide with a groan.

"Hang on Twi. There's something off about him," Spike said. Twilight walked up to the fallen unicorn, leaning her head around to look at him from different angles. His armor lit up in her magic and she unlatched it, leaving the dark brown unicorn bared.

"What about him?"

"He doesn't have any cybernetics."

It took Twilight a few seconds to realize what Spike had said. "You mean he was acting on his own will?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm not programmed with thorough medical knowledge so I can't really tell, but his brain scans are showing some anomalies. Something had messed with his mind."

Twilight thought back to when she had battled Rarity. The diamond dogs had kept ponies with no cybernetics captive for some purpose. "Spike, do you think…"

"I don't know. It should be impossible, but considering everything else Luna has done that seems a bold statement. We don't even know how she's been corrupting these ponies in the first place."

"Yeah…" Twilight's thoughts turned to the implication this invited. If Luna had a way to control ponies with no cybernetics after all, could these dark guard ponies be the Ponyville residents she still had captive?

"We can't worry about that, Twilight."

Twilight raised her head. "I know." She moved forward, putting the thought aside to focus on the mission. She reached the end of the chasm and turned along its length, the trees looming around her again as she crossed back into them. Another unicorn with an energy cannon barred her way, but only stalled Twilight for a moment before she defeated him. After that came a pair of earth ponies in the same shadowy armor. One attacked with a bladed hoofguard but Twilight's armor deflected them, and one charged blast each was enough to knock them unconscious.

"Twilight, getting a weird reading from up ahead," Spike said. "Something new." Twilight braced herself and began charging magic. She lowered her visor and saw a distinct red blip moving towards her from the left. She retracted it, turned to the source of the signal, and waited. From the darkness of the trees leapt a beast, roaring loudly. Twilight released her energy blast but the attacker jumped over it tackled her to the ground. Two paws stood on the ground beside her head, the owner growling at her. Twilight activated her thruster boots and jetted backwards across the forest floor. At a safer distance she got a better look at the beast as she climbed to her hooves. Pale orange skin, leathery wings with red membranes, fang-filled mouth surrounded by a red mane.

Twilight let out a groan. She didn't need Spike to identify it, she recognized the animal from her studies. "A manticore." The manticore pounced, Twilight rolling aside to avoid it. Several magic shots hit its side in bursts of violet light and the beast paused, groaning. Twilight fired again. The manticore turned, swiping at the blast to disperse it, and leapt. Twilight activated her thruster boots, sailing over the manticore as her helmet's crystal pulsed. She landed and turned her head, firing the charged blast. The manticore staggered back, roared weakly, and collapsed. She ran forward to check on it. Unconscious, but alive. Twilight let out a breath. "Spike, scan its signature. Let me know if there's any more in these woods."

"Will do, Twilight." As Spike confirmed the order Twilight turned back to her journey through the forest. The path dipped down to run next to a stagnant river, the smell of decay reaching Twilight's nose. Another pair of pegasi guard ponies chose the site to strike from, descending from the trees with bladed hoofguards outstretched. Twilight activated her thruster boots, leaping over them and lowering her head as they swooped back up. She took a second to lead the shot before firing, catching one pegasus as he turned and sending him spiraling to the ground. The second was descending towards her, eyes glowing red. The thruster boots triggered again and launched Twilight up, a charged concussive blast slamming into the pegasi's back and knocking him into a bush.

Twilight looked between the two and rolled her head, stretching. "You'd think after spending all day doing this, Luna would realize sending enemies at me one or two at a time isn't very effective."

Spike's hologram shrugged. "Well, most of what she's been doing hasn't made much sense all along."

"Good point." Twilight examined the two fallen pegasi, nudging one with her hoof, before moving on. She didn't get far before there was a flash of magic and a bolt of yellow energy shot towards her. Twilight turned to see another unicorn with an energy cannon firing at her from the trees. Twilight charged a shot to attack, but to her surprise, the unicorn turned and fled. She blinked. "That's new."

"Uh… do we chase him?" Spike sounded as confused as she was. Twilight made a face and pursued, her hooves dashing through the grass and weeds. The unicorn was fast, but she was catching up. Coiling her legs, Twilight leapt. Her thruster boots activated in the air, jetting her forward to tackle the unicorn. The two tumbled together, pitching over a hill and rolling down it in a tangle. Twilight's Multitool shifted as she fell and she fired the Apple Whip at a tree as she passed by. Her fall snapped to a halt as the chain went taut, the guard pony falling away from her. Twilight looked down at him and gaped.

A trio of manticores lay at the bottom of the hill, eyes glowing red. The unicorn was climbing to his hooves in front of them, a second unicorn to his side. Twilight swallowed heavily.

"A trap."

"Yup."

The three manticores ran forward as the unicorn's energy cannon began to glow. Twilight angled her hooves on the ground and activated her thruster boots. She flew up the hill, circling around with the Apple Whip pivoting her on the tree. She lowered her head as she came down on the other side, her helmet crystal glowing. The unicorn below fired his cannon, but Twilight was moving too fast and the blast hit the hill where she was a moment before, dirt and grass flying. Twilight's own attack nailed the unicorn directly on-target and sent him flipping over on his back.

The three manticores reached her by then. Twilight disengaged the Apple Whip and the momentum of her swing sent her past them down the hill. Bouncing and tumbling, she sent a command to her Multitool, the metal plates shifting from the clawed whip and chain to a wind turbine. Twilight finished her rough descent on her back and swung her hoof up. The Rainbow Tornado launched, blasts of slicing wind knocking the manticores back. The unicorn was on his hooves now and preparing to attack. Twilight turned her head and sent a charged shot his way before he could finish, the attack rolling him across the ground.

"Spike! Need a plan to take out these manticores."

"Divide and conquer."

Twilight narrowed her eyes and nodded. A manticore leapt towards her and she rolled away. As her helmet charged another concussive blast, she aimed the Rainbow Tornado at the other two manticores that were coming towards her. A second whirlwind knocked them back and Twilight activated her thruster boots to jump away as the first manticore leapt towards her. Its paws clawed up empty earth on its impact. In the air Twilight lowered her head and fired a charged blast. The manticore roared, rearing up and swiping a claw at the air at the air. Twilight shot out another trio of normal bolts and it collapsed, its eyes flickering red. The other two manticores were coming back once more as she landed. Twilight reconfigured her Multitool again and charged a blast of magic into her helmet. The two manticores came towards her and she raised her Multitool, the Octave Blast's noise waves causing the two to stop in their tracks and stagger. Twilight let loose her magic, the energy blast striking one of the manticores in the face and sending it tumbling down the hill with a yowl. The other recovered and ran at her. Twilight leapt aside and fired a second Octave Blast. The manticore looked away with a growl as the noise wave struck it and she fired a barrage of energy bolts into its side, toppling it.

Gasping for breath after the battle, Twilight looked over the hillside, making sure her opponents were all incapacitated. "Well… that wasn't so hard…" She called up her display to check her Multitool's energy reserves. As Celestia had said though, the back-up generator in her armor was taking the power need. Her reserves were barely down to seventy percent and recharging already.

"Yeah, maybe," Spike said, reading her thoughts. "But those manticores were definitely being controlled. Something's up."

Twilight approached one of the fallen beasts carefully, looking it over. "I don't see any cybernetics."

"There aren't any."

Twilight tensed. The red eyes were definitely a sign of Luna's influence. She really had found a way to seize control of biological beings after all. Twilight had thought it was some sort of programming corruption that was infecting ponies, but apparently not. Was Luna's ability to manipulate other beings technological or magical? Twilight had thought the former but now she couldn't be sure. She forced a laugh to brush away her fears. "Well, we just beat three manticores. Unless Luna's been able to find an ursa major in the woods and corrupt it, how much worse could her minions get?"

"Uh… Twilight…"

"No. Don't say it." Twilight twisted her head to glare at Spike's hologram. "Don't you dare say it!"

"I don't know about an ursa major, but I'm picking up some serious seismic activity. Something's headed our way. Something big."

Twilight groaned and slapped a hoof to her helmet, the metal clanging. "I had to open my mouth. Where?"

"Top of the hill."

Twilight turned and began galloping up the slope, grass and dirt flying from her hooves. She reached the top and waited, tensed for an attack. She could feel the ground shaking, heard trees cracking in the distance. Watching the darkness of the woods Twilight searched between the trees for a glimpse of what was coming. A tree at the edge of her field of vision fell over, and she got it.

A massive tank was rolling through the forest, trees and foliage in its path falling aside. Silver-blue plating covered its treads, which as far as Twilight could tell were designed to resemble a set of paws. The front of the tank looked like a bear's head, a tinted viewport hovering over a massive cannon barrel emerging from a mouth-shaped front. The rest of the machine was sleek silver and blue steel, hatches on the sides for entrance. The tank slowed, treads grinding to a halt. Twilight watched nervously as the cannon on the "head" of the bear-shaped artillery piece swiveled towards her.

"Well… at least it's not a real ursa," Spike said.

The end of the cannon aiming at them began to glow blue. Twilight narrowed her eyes and let out a groan. "Yay."

She activated her thruster boots and leapt. The tank fired, the ground beneath Twilight's hooves exploding in a blast of blue energy. She cried out as the shockwave hit her and stumbled on her landing, rolling and laying on her side. She heard the tank's treads begin to creak and looked. She had leapt too far to its side for it to aim at her and the tank was now turning in place to bring her back into range. Twilight got to her hooves and dashed, keeping herself out of the line of fire. She heard a metallic whirring and saw hatches slide back on the top of the tank, revealing large holes in the mechanics underneath. In a burst of red light, two pairs of rockets launched from the hatches and angled towards her, blazing through the air.

Twilight reconfigured her Multitool and activated her thruster boots to jump, firing the Apple Whip at a tree. The missiles shot past her as she pulled herself up, Twilight feeling the heat from the exhaust on her tail. The trees behind her exploded into splinters, falling to the forest floor. Hauling herself up to the tree branch, Twilight charged magic into the crystal on her head and fired a concussive blast. The violet energy orb slammed into the tank's plating, fizzling out in a crackle of magic. Spike scoffed in her head. "The armor is way too thick! You'll have to find a weak spot!"

Twilight growled. "You could have told me that ten seconds ago!" Charging a second shot, she aimed for the now-open missile hatch and fired again. She saw an explosion and a shower of sparks erupted from the hatch, smoke rising from the sides. However the ursa tank had now turned around enough to aim its cannon at her again. Twilight saw the end of the barrel glow and leapt. The tree she had stood on exploded at the base from the cannon blast and toppled over, leaving Twilight to flail through the air and land on the forest floor, rolling in a heap of tangled armored limbs. Looking up she saw the ursa tank turning again. She ran directly towards it and sunk the Apple Whip into the armor plating over the right tread. Her thruster boots activated, catapulting Twilight up to land on the top.

Stumbling to keep steady as the tank rumbled under her hooves, Twilight turned her head towards the damaged missile hatch and aimed her horn towards it. A storm of energy blasts rained through the air, and the port exploded in a larger blast than before, flames leaping from the missile slots. Twilight saw the second port shoot out two missiles and aimed carefully, picking them off with a blast each to detonate in the air before her. The tank was no longer turning, moving forward to some destination Twilight didn't know. She sank the claw of the Apple Whip into the destroyed missile bay for stability as the tank shook, her body vibrating.

Further down on the sides of the tank a larger hatch slid open. Twilight looked down to see what was happening. Two armored pegasi emerged from the tank and flew up, circling towards her. She lowered her head and fired several magic bolts, sending one drooping and tumbling over the side of the tank. The other dove at her, holding out a hoof and extending a short spear from the hoofguard. Twilight activated her thruster boots and leapt away, charging her magic and firing a focused blast to knock the pegasus to the ground. She landed on the forest floor as the hatch slid shut. The tank began to turn to her again and she activated her boots to jump back up. She landed in front of their missile hatch as it opened to fire, the missiles overshooting her and launching into the air. Twilight looked up and shot them down, then lowered her horn to the hatch itself and fired as many magical blasts as she could muster. Another explosion and plume of smoke filled the forest air and Twilight jumped down, both hatches disabled.

"Did that do much?" she asked, looking back at the tank. She had disabled the secondary weapons but it was still fully functional otherwise. "Destroying it's weapons won't stop it from moving, we need to stop it for good."

"You fried some of the internals due to feedback, but the main motors are fine," Spike replied. "If we can destroy the cannon we might be able to overload it. I'm scanning the cockpit right behind it, the blast should damage it enough to shut it down."

"Got it." Twilight saw the tank's treads turning to move it to aim at her and reconfigured her Multitool. "And I've got just the weapon in mind." Her hoof extended in a long, thin blaster, the end glowing light blue. The cannon was finally in place to turn and aim at her. Twilight was already aiming though, the Shooting Star pointed forward. She pointed the weapon down the barrel of the ursa tank's cannon and fired. There was a flash of light and heard a muffled explosion from within. Twilight focused on her horn and fired a powered blast. The vehicle shuddered and groaned, and Twilight sent another Shooting Star into the cannon. With a loud explosion the ursa tank's panels seemed to pop apart, smoke and sparks flying. Its treads screeched to a halt and the side hatch opened, black smoke billowing out.

There was a hum of energy and Twilight saw the cannon barrel begin to glow even as the tank continued to fall apart. "Spike?"

"Run! The overload is working and not like I thought!"

Twilight's eyes widened and she turned to flee, activating her boots to propel herself forward. The tank exploding and falling apart around it, the cannon finished charging and fired. A beam of yellow light lanced out and Twilight activated her boots one last time. She saw the light land on the ground in front of her as she sailed over it and braced herself. The cannon fired for the last time, the overloaded beam blasted a crater in the forest floor. The force turned Twilight's jump into a fall and sent her rolling forward, grass and dirt flying into her muzzle.

Twilight finally stopped on her back staring at the moon overhead. The world seemed to spin around her and she tasted blood. She lifted her head to see the smoking ruins of the ursa tank back in the trees. "Tell me it's disabled…"

"That's a confirm."

Twilight nodded and made a face. She turned her head and spit, grimacing and sticking her tongue at the sight of a chunk of dirt hitting the ground matted with blood. She groaned and flopped on her back, her magic seizing her helmet and pulling it off to let her mane fan out on the grass. "That's great. Let's take a minute." Panting and letting herself rest she closed her eyes and set her helmet down beside her.

"Um, Twilight? Hate to interrupt the pit stop."

"Then don't." Twilight shook her head.

"But… we're here."

Twilight blinked and tilted her head back to look over her head. She saw what Spike meant and rolled on her stomach, jaw dropping.

The forest ahead of her receded to reveal another valley, this one with a long, flat steel bridge extending over it. Ancient stone statues of ponies in armor wielding spears and swords lined the bridge, rearing on hind hooves. On the other side of the chasm rose a large castle. Moonlight shone over it, illuminating crumbling and ruined battlements and towers, yet the core structure was intact. The castle wasn't as large as Canterlot's, but even in its ruined state it was an impressive structure. Twilight slowly climbed to her hooves, in awe of the ancient fortress sprawling before her.

"The Castle of the Two Sisters."

Twilight picked up her helmet and slipped it back on before approaching the bridge. She stopped to glance behind her. Seeing nothing she briskly trotted across the chasm, eyes and ears waiting for an attack. None came. As Twilight neared the other end of the chasm she looked to the sides. Two marble statues, each of an alicorn and larger than the guard statues, stood at the end of the bridge. Somepony had smashed one of them until only its hooves remained on the base, the remains littering the ground around it. The other alicorn bore a cutie mark of a crescent moon.

Twilight passed them and looked up at the castle doors. They were ancient steel and rusted orange and brown, in some places the corrosion was heavy that they had fallen apart leaving small holes in the frame. With only a moment's hesitation, she activated her magic and concentrated. The doors lit up in violet light and slowly creaked open, the ancient steel groaning in protest. One of the door handles crumbled under her telekinetic force, the metal shards falling inside. Twilight stopped then; she had pulled the doors wide enough to fit between them now.

"Spike, scanners active and at full power. Anything moves in this castle, I want a fix."

"Roger that, Twi."

Taking a breath, Twilight stepped forward and passed through the doors of the ancient castle.

---

Celestia heard the doors to the medical lab open but did not turn. She was kneeling by the medical capsule holding Rainbow Dash, eyes closed in concenstration. Golden light poured from her horn into the capsule's occupant, surrounding Rainbow Dash in an aura of alicorn magic.

"Your Grace, urgent news."

Celestia opened her eyes and frowned. "I wished not to be disturbed unless it was an emergency."

Valiant Spirit bowed. "I recall, Your Grace, but this may qualify." Celestia ceased her work and turned her head. "I have received word from Data Byte in engineering. They reported an orbital anomaly they wished me inform you of."

Celestia furrowed her brow. "Orbital?"

"Yes, Your Grace. It seems somepony has taken control of Equestria's satellite systems. We have identified at least a dozen that have set themselves on new trajectories across the planet."

Celestia stood and moved to the computer, inputting the royal override to access her lab remotely. The displayed blinked to life and she moved her hooves over the keys. The display split into six, five displaying an orbital view of Equestria from the communication satellites hovering in space around it, the sixth showing the planet and the satellites in position. Lines tracing out the paths of the satellites circled the display showing their new orbits.

"None of the space relays have reported this?"

"No, Your Grace."

"Then the only place the order could come from is Canterlot's central core…" Celestia kept the thought to herself as she turned to face Valiant Spirit. Aloud she said, "keep me posted on any further developments. Tell Data Byte to contact the space relays and get our systems back on proper course as soon as possible."

"At once, Your Grace." Valiant Spirit bowed his head and hurried out of the room. Celestia watched him go, glancing back at the screens behind her.

"Luna… what are you up to now?"

Comments

[Shazam 25]

Nice job, I wait for the next chapter. Boy Twilight had a hard time taking down that tank, good thing her new armor help her here.

[DrakeyC]

4510732 Yup, that was the intent, I really couldn't imagine Fluttershy, even corrupted as an aggressive and hostile force, so I had the idea to do that to give The Master some more development and work around her unsuiting personality.

[Mooncalf]

Few things are as frustrating as when you find a good story, spend hours reading it, and then end on a cliffhanger.

Looking forward to the thrilling conclusion. I hope Twilight's un-corrupted ex-opponents will see a return somehow.

I noted that earlier chapters were rife with comma splices, whereas later chapters avoided them. Very good. Editing is a little iffy, though; one prior chapter (think it was Octavia's, or maybe Trixie's) had a sentence repeating itself by accident. Might want to clean that up at some point.

This story needs more upvotes.

[DrakeyC]

4512209 Yeah, this story's history is really where I actually started caring about the technical aspects of my writing. Telly-talk, bookisms, comma splices. The original version of the story was full of them and is almost unrecognizable. I've asked a user to proofread it for me now that it's almost done. If you notice any errors at all, please let me know and I'l correct them.

Thanks for reading and happy you enjoyed it.

[Phazon]

Her reserves were barely down to seventy percelt and recharging already.

Seventy percelt? Damn, that's like, what, seventy percent, right?

Two l marble statues, each of an alicorn and larger than the guard statues, stood at the end of the bridge.

Not entirely sure what you going to use that 'l' for, but something must be done about it.

Other than that, the crossover nature of this has me wondering how the final battle is going to play out. If you approach it as an FiM story, then the rest of the Element Bearers need to show up in time to aid Twilight and use the Harmony program to its fullest effect. But if you approach it as a Mega Man story, then Twilight will go it alone all the way through, including using the program by herself. Frankly, I don't think I'd be satisfied with the latter, even accounting for Twilight's earlier sentiment that the others were with her in spirit via their respective weapons, which would feel like a weak excuse under the circumstances. Plus, I doubt her new Spike Adaptor/totally-not-Iron-Man-esque armor would stand a chance against cyber Nightmare Moon anyway.

[LostArchivist]

I find it amusing and cute that Trixie got to beat an Ursa. Well, sorta.