Poniocracy Side Stories

by sunnypack

Robot Manticore Attack

Chapter 1: I, Manticore

"I should get paid for this," David muttered, letting loose a hail of bullets from the mounted turret. Twilight spared David a quick glance before charging up her horn and letting loose a volley of her own. Twilight and David hunkered down behind the sandbag as a whistling sound filled the air.

BOOOOOOOOM!

"You know," David started, giving Twilight a pat on the back. "I wasn't sure you’d be able to handle yourself out there."

Twilight shot David a sour look. Shaking her head, she simply shrugged the comment off. “I've faced worse threats than this." She popped her head out of the trench long enough to fire a bevy of magical bullets. David heard a metallic shriek and subsequent explosion that accompanied the reactor core of a manticore overloading. He let out a low whistle, impressed.

"Well excuuuuuuse me, Princess! Not all of us have been training to become super elite soldiers since we were born," David shot back. A football-sized manticore head sailed over the sandbags and landed next to David. He took the head and started playing puppet with it.

"Hey David," he spoke in a high pitched voice. "Who's this little girl?"

David pretended to look surprised. "Don't you know, my recently deceased manticore friend? This is the defender of Equestria! Practically a natural born killer!"

A whining gasp came from the head. David nonchalantly tossed it over his shoulder. Seconds later, a concussive explosion rocked the trench wall.

"David! I'm not some kind of heartless killer," Twilight hissed reproachfully. "Besides, that was dangerous! What if that head hurt somepony?"

David shrugged. "You don't know that," he said, scratching the back of his head.

A voice tore through the short silence preceding the next wave of attacks. "My leg! Someone threw an exploding head and some shrapnel hit my leg!" the voice screamed.

Twilight levelled a disapproving look at David.

"Can't be that bad," David defended, though he was starting to look unsure.

"What do you mean you have to cut it off?! Oh Celestia!"

David shifted uneasily against the trench wall. "Okay, but at least it'll be painless, right?" He glanced over the sandbags and quickly dropped back down. "He'll be fine, there's some medics with him right now."

"What the buck do you mean we've run out of morphine?! Ahhhhhhhhh!"

David started sweating bullets. "You know, I think that pony would benefit from me keeping my mouth shut," he muttered. Twilight gave him a curt nod. After an awkward silence, David spoke up again. "Well at least he doesn't know it's me."

"WHAT?! IT WAS THAT CELESTIA-DAMNED HUMAN?!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and shook her head. David decided to take a vow of silence from that point on.

---

Chapter 2: You, Human

After dealing with the manticore remains and studiously ignoring the cries of pain and suffering coming from the general direction of the medical tents, David wiped his brow with an arm and collapsed next to a similarly exhausted unicorn.

“Twilight,” he grumbled, giving her a weak smile. “Let’s not do that again.”

Twilight didn’t reply, she simply nodded wearily. Their last attack had been a last ditch effort to contain the breach of lightning-charged manticores that had broken through on the eastern perimeter defences and had overrun the bewildered and demoralised pony battalion stationed there. Twilight and David mutually agreed to stem the tide, and they were able to… only David felt that they had been much too little, much too late and manticores had really done a number on him before they could mount up an effective rally.

At first, thrust into the war with little or no notice (and with no choice but to comply) David had tried to cover his rising anxiety with wild recklessness and dry humour. But as the war wore on, that soon evaporated, leaving behind ashes in his mouth and the bitter taste of loss and regret. With every life that left their midst, David felt an ache in his chest grow, and though he grinned cheerfully and playfully wound up Twilight, he found that his heart was not in it.

He could see that reflected in Twilight’s eyes. The feeling was sympathetic. Her own face was a lie wrapped in a deception coddled in the silky web of falsehoods and slights. The game they took part in was a dangerous one, to act without acting out, to play without playing the other, to think without being thought of. It was an emotional tug of war that made David all the more weary than the incessant fighting every other minute.

A shrill scream split the temporary silence that had descended throughout the battlefield. Twilight glanced at David, giving the human a shaky grin and she gestured with a hoof towards the trench lines again. David groaned and pushed himself up to his knees.

“I’m going to regret this aren’t I?” he commented wryly to the unicorn tensing up beside him.

“For what it’s worth, David,” she croaked. “I enjoyed the short moments of fun we had together.”

David surprised himself by replying, “Me too.” He paused, mulled it over, then found he really meant it.

“Me too,” he said more firmly.

The next wave was upon them in moments, and they could not speak a word more.

---

Chapter 3: The Real Monsters

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” David growled, revving up his mini-gun once again. Twilight rolled her eyes, igniting spell after spell to detonate among the lines of the robotic assailants.

“I know David, but we have to do this or–”

“Yeah, yeah. Yadda yadda, Equestria falls, yadda yadda, end of all life on this planet. I get it,” he grumbled. “But it’s always got to be us.”

Twilight cocked her head slyly at that. “Actually,” she said. “It’s only me.”

David gave her a wry smile. “That means us.”

–––––

After sneaking into the main compound, David let Twilight do her thing at the console while he stood around with the massive gun. For a pony that only learned about computers and electronics just a few months ago, she was freakishly proficient.

She’s practically Matrix level now, he thought sourly to himself. A ranging manticore rounded the corner, but he just tossed an EMP grenade at it. The manticore broke down, its frame crackling with energy.

“I’m almost through,” Twilight grunted, tapping in the last remnants of command code via a telekinetic field.

“Yeah,” David muttered, distracted. “All good.”

Twilight groaned. Without turning around she said, “That bad, huh?”

David whistled. “You have no idea.”

Author's Note:

It was found that David's comments were a more powerful force in the universe than the Elements of Harmony.

THIS STORY DEMANDS YOUR ATTENTION.

Comments

[Phoenix Quill]

What the what?!

[Misty Horse]

These stories are confusingly random...

[Baileyjrob]

So lost...

Also, Equestria = Mann co.