Bugs and Steel

by Beta-17

Last Line of Defense (Chapter-8)

Author's Note:

Short chapter, well shorter than others, and yes a shameless plug to a game I don't even play...

The gray machine strode into the room in a very calm manner, one black boot in front of the other, carrying the blood-lusting Panzer Shriek. The black boot trekked across the marble floor crushing the splinters of wood, pebbles tracked in from outside and small shards of glass from shattered windows. Cadence stood beside Twilight and her friends keeping the crusaders behind her to keep them safe. Rainbowdash and Pinkie now lay on their backs looking up at the rebuilt, blood stained mechanical Nazi. He looked down with a smile, placing his right foot on the barrel of the cannon, with a swift motion he sent the artillery flying into a window, shattering the stained glass window. Dash and Pinkie got to their hooves and scrambled to the relative safety of the rest of their friends. Panzer laughs as they run. Celestia begins to stand to confront the intruder.

“Nien! Don’t get up.” Panzer quickly raised his hand to signal the princess to stop. Celestia stood straight and began to speak.

“You invaded my kingdom, I have the right” The solar princess began but was cut off sharply.

“You have ze right to be shut up!” Panzer barked coldly.

“How dare you!” Celestia began to shout, but was once again promptly silenced, though this time it wasn’t a voice that silenced her voice. The echo of a single gunshot rang out through the throne room; a 9mm casing hit the floor with a ping. The luger’s barrel whispered fresh smoke into the air. Panzer held the pistol firm in his right hand, barrel still pointed at the princess. Celestia looked down and was horrified. Panzer had put a hole in her chest. She could do nothing, nothing but watch as the white coat around the wound became tainted with red blood. She became lightly ill and lost her balance. Luna stared wide-eyed for a second before she ran over to her sister, catching her before she hit the ground. Twilight was infuriated.

“Vell, I told you not to stand…” Panzer said in a voice that made it sound as if he was talking to himself, then lowered the luger.

“SNAP OUT OF IT GIRLS! GET HIM!” Twilight shouted through tear filled eyes in a rage. The pendants began to glow brightly. Twilight began to levitate and her eyes shone like a pair of headlights, just as before the elements began to split color from the light around the users and charged up the magical energy. Panzer simply looked at them with a stern, impatient look on his face. A beam of light split into several colors and sailed through the air hitting Panzer hard where he stood; the force of the beam brought him to a knee. The intensity of the light in the room began to exponentially grow making visual contact with anything impossible. Those who weren’t using the elements covered their eyes to avoid being blinded by the light.

The light dimmed, Twilight and her friends stood expecting to see the mechanical Plague encased in stone, rehabilitated, or what they all hoped blown apart into hundreds of pieces. Every heart in the room sank to the floor when they saw Panzer standing, unaffected by the direct hit from the elements of harmony. Twilight and her friends where speechless, Panzer began to laugh his insane lark.

“I know all about zese little elements of yours, and you vill be quite disappointed to know zat zey vill have no effect on me. I am ze exact opposite of chaotic. Precision German engineering, clockwork working in perfect harmony keeping me running, unlike ze foes zose elements have defeated before, I am ze first who is not actually alive.” Panzer was growing tired of these attempts to stop him in his goal. From the other end of the room Cadence had disappeared leaving the Crusaders under the protection of the now enraged Twilight.

Twilight’s world grinded to a halt on finally comprehending what was going on. Her brother lay in a heap on the floor paralyzed from some unknown toxin, her friends stand afraid, their only means of defense deemed useless. The two humanoid machines trying to help her where obviously outmatched and overclocked; Pixel was battered and busted, and Red was rattled with countless bullet holes, both trying to save a world they didn’t know. And the princess, her mentor, no, her friend now lay in the forelegs of her sister with a bullet lodged in her chest. A seed of hate had germinated deep within Twilight, she hated this Mechanical bastard. Twilight’s eyes had abandoned the bright glow of the elements of harmony and began to give off a bubbling green light. Her eyes turned green with hatred. Twilight placed the element of magic on the ground and cracked her neck, preparing for a fight.

Panzer once again raised his Luger, this time the barrel was trained on the purple unicorn’s head. Before the trigger could be pulled Twilight enveloped the hand with the gun with the green hate magic. The sound was gratifying and sickening at the same time. The clasp binding the hydraulic tubing to the hand busted sending the metal halves flying into the air, the bolt in the wrist hinge broke into three parts, not entirely leaving the parts it held in place. The little actuators that extended from the wrist to the base of the hand where torn out of their fasteners, sending little flecks of metal soaring into the air. The hydraulic tubing that allowed Panzer to manipulate his hand began to stretch. The little rubber tubes increased in tension until they were as tight as guitar strings, finally the hydraulic tubes couldn’t handle the strain. Each one snapped individually with the sound of breaking bones. Hydraulic fluid splattered and gushed from the wrist coating the floor with the slippery substance, and staining the wood of Panzer’s wrist.

Panzer stumbled backwards holding his wrist; his hand had just been forcibly ripped from his wrist. The forged, tank grade steel pin that held his hand to his arm was just torn off by the enraged Twilight Sparkle. The Hive soldiers stood in awe as they watched the showdown unfold before their eyes. The gushing od hydraulic fluid from the missing appendage was cut down to a trickle once the computer onboard Panzer’s hydraulic system discovered a leak and shut the valve at the pump, cutting off circulation to the missing hand. Thinking on his feet Panzer grabbed his knife from his belt and hurled it at Twilight. Twilight was too exhausted from the unpracticed and highly taxing hate magic, she backed out and was unable to see the knife. Pixel bolted in front of the knife catching it by the blade just inches away from Twilight’s face. With a quick flip Pixel threw the knife back at Panzer imbedding the blade deep into the wood of his good arm. Red had taken the opportunity to come around to the side of Panzer ready to strike hard with a mighty right hook, but Panzer had seen Red coming and countered by clotheslining the soviet forcing him to stumble backwards.

Pixel hurried over to Celestia to see what she could do to keep Equestria’s ruler from bleeding out in her own throne room. She pulled the scarf from around her neck, exposing six hydraulic actuators, her metal neck vertebra, and her air intake windpipe. Pixel wadded up the checkered scarf into a makeshift bandage and placed it over the hole in Celestia’s chest.

“Keep pressure on it or she’ll bleed out.” Pixel instructed Luna, in an attempt to save the solar princess’ life. Pixel then reached into a pocket around her abdomen and produced a syringe filled with a foreign liquid, she removed the needle cover and pushed the plunger out a little to evacuate the air from the shot.

“What is that?” Luna asked through teary eyes.

“It’s Morphine, a pain killer and antibiotic. This stuff can be the difference between her living and her dyeing…” Pixel plunged the needle into Celestia’s foreleg injecting the liquid. Across the room Red and Panzer traded blows showering the ground with sparks. Red drove his left hand into Panzer’s side in an old-school boxing match style of fighting.

“Tear him apart Red!” Scootaloo shouted leaping into the air and fluttering her wings in excitement.

“Yeah, bust that tin can into a scrap pile!” Applebloom chimed in sitting on her haunches and swinging her forelegs in a punching motion.

“Tear off his other hand!” Sweetiebelle shouted in her squeaky voice. Eventually the entire room was filled with the cries of ponies cheering on the Soviet as the two stood toe to toe trading paint with every crippling punch.

Red delivered a three punch combo of one right hook mashing Panzer’s left eye, a devastating left hook leaving an imprint of his fist on the right side of Panzer’s chest-plate, and a Powerful uppercut knocking Panzer’s jaw free from its hinge. Panzer stumbled backwards placing his jaw back in place, and hitting the right side of his jaw with the handless wrist, locking the jaw back into place. Red advanced quickly not letting up on the mechanical Nazi. Red’s right arm extended to deliver another blow to Panzer’s face, but he was stopped. Panzer grabbed Red’s hand and pulled hard. Red lost his footing and stumbled forward. Panzer’s right elbow came down hard on the back of Red’s head, the heat vent caved in under the force of the steel arm. Red’s pupils expanded until they filled both his eyes entirely. He heard the metallic clash as expected when metal struck metal but one sound suck out to him, a shallow crunch. Red landed on his hands to break his fall, but did not get up. He stayed on the ground with his hand on the back of his head.

The room fell silent; the cheering from the ponies in the room had come to a screeching halt when Red had not gotten up.

“Red get up! You gotta stop em’!” Applebloom tried to give Red the courage and confidence to finnish the fight. Panzer now directed his attention to the Princesses. He slowly walked over the broken glass and wooden splinters, making his way up to the large chairs of the throne room. Pixel slowly turned and rose to her feet, adjusting her American flag embroidered baseball cap so the bill pointed backwards.

“This ain’t a fight you want to pick scrub, trust me.” Pixel motioned rolling up sleeves, balling her hands into fists.

“Now, honestly, vat do you take me for? I vouldn’t hit a lady.” Panzer mocked, as he leveled with the American. He promptly found himself reeling back from a swift punch he never saw coming.

“That’s too bad, because I have no problem hitting you. Ah, well, I was hoping you’d make this a little interesting.” Pixel stood her ground prepared to fight to the end if the situation called for it.

“I can see zat, it looks like I vill have to make an exception to my rule.” Panzer challenged her.

“Get ready for the biggest smack down of your life, you’re dealing with a U.S. Navy seal, Nazi boy.” Panzer went in for a swing directed at Pixel’s face, but quickly found himself on the ground from a kick to the legs. Panzer stood up, Pixel had still not moved from her initial spot. He went in for another swing but was once again assaulted by two punches to each side of his face and a kick to the chest. The kick left a dust print of the bottom of Pixel’s boot across Panzer’s chest-plate. Panzer’s frustration was now clear on his face.

“What’s wrong? You mad bro? Come at me scrub! Here let’s make this more interesting.” Pixel flipped open a hatch on her forearm and pressed a button. From a sound system invisible from the outside began playing the main sound track to her favorite 2d street fighter game, Mortal Combat. Panzer faked right and finally landed a left hook without being knocked down again. Pixel righted herself and nailed the mechanical Nazi in the side of the head with a roundhouse kick. Panzer had strength on his side but Pixel was much lighter and faster. He stepped back down from the steps to the thrones and assessed his situation, he quickly shot his eyes up and noticed a few heavy objects hanging from the ceiling, all he had to do was lure Pixel under one then cut the rope, trapping her or killing her. In an attempt to entice the Seal to abandon her position in front of the princesses he wrapped his teeth around the handle of the knife embedded in his arm and yanked it free. Taking the knife in his hand and threatening the Seal. Pixel smirked at him, and produced blade of her own. From the knuckles of her hands sprang a pair of blades, one on each hand and she advanced on the mechanical man. Pixel was about ready to swing her first fist blade when suddenly she was hurled out the window with a loud bang.

Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo looked on in horror ad what they had just done. In an attempt to shoot Panzer with Pinkie’s cannon, they had hit Pixel, sending her flying out of a window. Panzer turned his head to face the Crusaders and smiled at them.

“I, I think I’m going to be sick…” Sweetiebelle put a hoof over her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes. Panzer began to make his way to the Princesses once again, now with a blade in his remaining hand, with intent to kill.

“Now zen, vhere vere we?” He raised the knife, ready to finish off the princesses but once again he was stopped dead in his tracks. A metallic scraping sound was the only noise in the room. Panzer looked down to his chest to see a blade jutting out. Cadence stood behind him, an STG-44 wrapped in glow of magic that didn’t match her usual aura, the bayonet on the end of the barrel now penetrated Panzer’s chest from back to front. Cadence wore a vest that formed an X out of the ammo belts.

“Nobody abused my Hive for personal gain and gets away with it.” Chrysalis’ voice emanated from Cadences’ mouth. With a tornado of fire the disguise was gone and the changeling queen now stood holding the blade in panzer’s back.

“Ah, Chrysalis, I see you have betrayed me and the Hive. And your aim with a sword hasn’t improved. You missed, my battery is higher up.” Panzer mocked

“No, I came to save my subjects from your Tyrannical ways. And this isn’t a sword.” Chrysalis returned the mocking tone. The Stg’s trigger was pulled tight against the handle. The firing pin slid forward striking the primer. A small spark ignited the gunpowder inside the brass casing sending the bullet spiraling down the threading of the barrel, tripping off the gas recoil system on its way out of the barrel repeating the process. The gas behind the first bullet tripped off the gas system, causing several more bullets to follow the first one. The lead bullet caps tore through the metal plating, severing wires and hydraulic tubes on their way to Panzer’s battery. The bullets impacted and punched several holes in the mechanical man’s heart, spraying battery acid all over the front of his chest. However Panzer did not fall, he stood for a few moments before attempting to turn around. This too was a faulty action. Chrysalis had pulled the rifle’s bayonet out from the mechanical Nazi’s back, and Panzer moved to face his attacker. Another loud bang ripped through the devastated throne room.

Panzer’s head was gone. His decapitated body stood for a moment awaiting a command from the computer in the head which had issued its last. The steel corps then slumped to the floor, landing on its side then rolling onto its back, bleeding every fluid ounce of hydraulic fluid and battery acid onto the marble floor. Applebloom was stood next to Pinkie’s cannon, the barrel still pointed at the spot where it had removed the head of General Panzer of the Grand Hive Army.

“Headshot!” Scootaloo shouted with delight. The changeling army dropped their weapons and bowed to their queen. Chrysalis was once again the undisputed ruler of the Changeling Empire; it was once again her hive. Twilight was slowly getting up from her backing out, the hate magic was powerful stuff that she was not use to. The rest of her friends where cheering. Panzer is dead! Panzer is dead! But this happiness would be short lived.

“Hey, does anypony else smell something burning?” Rainbowdash raised the question.

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[Enduring Cosmos]

FIRST!