A New Dimension, A New Threat

by ZeroChill

Simulation

Lith rushed towards H.O.R.S.E. headquarters’s gates and sprinted towards the right, following the sounds of mechanical joints whirring in the distance. In front of a blue building laden with silicon cells and holograms were Mono, Fei and Keldeo. The three of them eyed Lith in the distance, waving towards her direction.

“Hey Lith!” Mono shouted.

Lith slowed her steps down to a walk, allowing her lustrous fur to glitter in the sunlight. Keldeo whistled.

“Wow! You look stunning right now, Lith. Did the spa have some sort of special or something today?”

“The spa owners owed Rarity a favor. She used that favor to make my fur shine and help me relax, which I needed after confronting Commander Uppercut.” Lith responded.

Fei turned his head away, averting his sight from Lith. A faint rush of blood appeared on his cheeks.

“Regardless, I’m glad that you had the time to relax. Keldeo, Fei and I really got to hit it off while you were away.” Mono stated. “But anyways, I’m ready for the simulation portion of my exam. What about you all?”

“I’m definitely ready to kick some tail.” Lith stated, pumping her right paw down.

“If it is anything like Rarity showed me, then I should do fine.” Keldeo responded.

“I can’t believe I am saying this, but I feel ready to ride in a mech of my own.” Fei answered.

The door of the building slid open, revealing an opaque air within.

---

Mono, Lith, Fei and Keldeo walked down the dark hallway leading towards the infinite abyss. Mono held his left paw out, feeling for the wall with an anxious frown masked by the darkness.

“Ummm… I don’t do too well in darkness. Are you sure we are going the right way?”

“I’m certain… I think. H.O.R.S.E. wouldn’t have a dark hallway like this, now would they?” Lith reasoned.

“I think this may be a part of the test. Being a pilot requires courage, after all.” Fei stated.

Keldeo spearheaded the group’s advance. For what felt like an infinite amount of time, his face finally smacked against a hard surface. He stepped back and rubbed his snout with his right front hoof.

“It seems like we made it to the end.”

“Way ahead of you in that regard.” Mono responded, walking around the room in an octagon-shaped pattern.

The room lit up with life, revealing four spiraling circles heading out of four of the walls. Four seats with four straps each, black sticks on the right arms with red buttons on top and a host of buttons and a lever on the dashboard on the left arms.

“I guess we are supposed to sit down in these chairs?” Lith asked, shrugging her shoulders.

The group sat within the chairs, placing on the straps over the buckles. The walls, ceiling and floor came to life, emitting a vibrant landscape that is similar to a sunny day on the Terraformed Wilderness plains. Everyone sitting in the chairs looked to their left and right, seeing no traces of the others.

“Greetings everyone.” A voice called out through an intercom. “This is Commander Spitfire here, giving you the simulation portion of your exam.”

“I have many questions. First of all, why is an entire building built to house this one room?” Mono asked.

“Always asking the background questions, eh? I guess I can answer that for you. This building is a super projector of sorts. You’re surprised that you can’t see anyone else, right? Well, look around once more.” Spitfire responded.

On the field were four exos, each one representing the colors of the test takers. Each of them possessed lines flashing with blue lights. On each view flashed three holographic screens featuring the other test takers.

“This is pretty cool. It’s like I’m actually in a mecha.” Keldeo noted.

“And that’s the effect that we’ve strived to create in this facility. Now, as you know, the simulation placed you in the position of pilots within exos. Here are the rules for the four-person version of the test; you see that walled city in the distance?”

With Spitfire’s question declared, a silver-walled city with a lime green pulsating shield phased into existence.

“I see it, Spitfire. I guess we have to protect it?” Lith asked.

“Precisely. This is a cooperative mission, meaning you four have to work together to defeat waves of enemies. You all pass the test when the enemy threat is eliminated and the city is still standing, but you all will fail if the city is destroyed. Is this understood?”

“I understand. United we stand and united we fall. Therefore, we all have to do our part in this test.” Mono stated.

A horde of mechanical spiders spawned by the coast of the digital sea. Fei readied the stance of his exo. He looked towards Mono’s screen, seeing him fumble with the stick.

“Need some help?” He asked. “Use the lever and stick in conjunction to move forward.”

Mono grasped the lever with his left paw. With his paw on the stick, he moved both forward. His exo advanced towards the horde. Pressing the green button on the dashboard, a flurry of missiles shot towards the crabs.

“Thanks, Fei.”

“No problem.” Fei responded, smashing his exo’s foot into the ground near the spiders.

Lith’s exo extended its arms outwards, releasing a volley of missiles from its shoulders and into the horde. Several explosions blasted the spiders away.

Keldeo’s exo held its hand out. A storm of bullets erupted from its fingertips, firing away at the mechanical spiders. The remaining enemies exploded from the shells piercing their armor.

A loud beep signaled across the digital world. From the other side of the city, ten giant crabs snapped their blue and metallic pincers. They scuttled towards the city’s walls. Mechanized eagles with razor-sharp talons dove down from the coast of the sky towards the city.

“Oh great! Now they’re attacking from both sides!” Lith stated, clenching her teeth.

Lith’s exo leaped into the air. It grabbed one of the eagles by its left talon and swung it towards two more eagles. A flurry of bullets flew out of Fei’s exo’s shoulders, peppering the eagles swarming towards Lith’s exo in its fiery fury.

“Thanks for having my back, Fei.”

“Always glad to be of assistance.”

Mono and Keldeo’s exos sprinted towards the giant crabs. A pincer smacked itself against the head of Mono’s exo. Mono’s seat shook with intense vibrations. He grimaced.

“A bit realistic, isn’t it?” He asked with sarcasm dripping from his tone.

Keldeo’s exo launched its fist underneath the crab, uppercutting it onto its backside.

“Mono! Attack its weak point for massive damage!” Keldeo shouted.

“You just wanted to say that, didn’t you?” Mono responded, leaping onto the soft underbelly of the crab.

“Yes I did.”

With the crab no longer moving, Mono’s exo leaped towards another crab and smashed its fist onto the shell of the crab. The crab raised its pincers and swung it to its right. Mono’s exo raised its right arm, deflecting the blow. It raised its leg, kicking the crab and launching it across the digital hemisphere.

Keldeo’s exo vaulted above a crab. It pulled out a sword, stabbing it through the top of the crab. Removing the sword from the crab, showers of sparks erupted from the wound.

“Well, that’s wave two so far.” Keldeo said. “How’s everyone doing so far?”

“Mono here; a bit rough, but I’m doing fine.” Mono responded.

“Lith here; I suffered a bit of damage on my end. But, I’m still good to go.” Lith stated.

“Fei here; I am in optimal condition.” Fei answered.

“This wave will be a bit different.” Spitfire announced.

A stressful ticking erupted from the epicenter of the city. Each of the pilots flashed glances towards each other.

“Ummm… what was that noise?” Mono asked, tilting his head in puzzlement.

“I have set you up with the bomb in the city to spice things up. You have ten minutes to find the bomb in the city and disarm it. In addition, a new wave of powerful enemies will be spawned at the same time. Hope you like dual challenges like that.” Spitfire responded, chuckling with an evil undertone in her voice.

All around the city, mechanical dragons with large and gaping wings spawned. They unleashed a fiery breath towards the walls of the city, melting away the metal exterior.

“Dear Arceus! Those dragons are destroying the city!” Mono shouted.

“On top of that, there’s a bomb somewhere within the city. One of us will have to go into the city to find and disarm the bomb. The rest of us…” Keldeo paused with a gulp on air. “Will have to face those dragons.”

“I’ll go. Disarming a bomb should be like field research.” Lith stated.

“I trust you, Lith. We’ll try our best to defend the city from these dragons.” Mono responded.

Lith’s exo’s body rearranged itself, forming into the shape of a horse. It galloped towards the city. Mono, Fei and Keldeo glanced towards each other, nodding with silent understanding.

Fei’s exo leaped into the air, grasping one of the airborne dragons by its tail. The dragon flapped its wings higher and swung its tail towards the city, smashing Fei’s exo into the wall.

“Fei!” Mono shouted.

“Don’t worry, Mono. It’s just a scratch.” Fei stated, his face grimacing from the violent shake from his seat.

His exo held its left arm out towards the dragon. Its fist launched into the dragon’s face, shattering its head. The corpse of the dragon fell to the ground. Fei’s exo leaped from the wall and twisted through the air, locking on his systems to a nearby dragon. A red glob shot out of its wrist, adhering onto the dragon. The glob flashed with a brilliant orange, setting the dragon on fire.

“Cool. Two in one!” Keldeo complimented.

“I might need a bit of help here.” With his exo being bombarded with seven flaming breaths, Mono pleaded.

“I’m coming by to help!”

---

Lith’s exo scoured across the digital city, checking across the vast streets and narrow alleys. With the ticking of the clock echoing louder and the timer running down, a panicked whine escaped her lips.

“Okay, calm down. If I were a bomb, then where would I hide it?” She asked herself.

She closed her eyes, her ears twitching and listening on to the source of the noise. She opened her eyes, smiling with a confident grin. Her exo sprinted towards the west of the city. A replica of H.O.R.S.E. headquarters and a black device at the gate’s base came into sight.

Lith approached the oval-shaped bomb. Her exo grasped it with its right hand. The bottom of the bomb sprouted eight legs and grew to the size of a stadium that towered her exo. Lith narrowed her eyes and smacked her face with her right paw.

“Oh come on! Now I have to beat the bomb?!” She shouted.

A hologram display of Mono showed itself within her field of vision. His seat rumbled and he clenched his teeth with closed eyes.

“Need help there, Lith?” He asked.

“Yes. Very much. Apparently, the bomb is a boss enemy.” Lith responded.

Two hologram displays of Keldeo and Fei appeared within Lith’s line of sight.

“Fei and I have these dragons covered.” Keldeo stated, grunting and directing his stick in a diagonal movement. “Go help your sister, Mono.”

“Explosive enemies are no laughing matter, especially if they are boss enemies. We’ll cover your path inside.” Fei said.

“Thanks guys. So where are you now, Lith?” Mono asked.

“Outside of H.O.R.S.E. headquarters. But you might want to hurry because this thing is trying to stab me.” Jamming her stick’s movements to the left and right, Lith answered.

Lith’s exo dodged a tendril stabbing at it. It leaped into the air and unleashed a volley of missiles down to the ground. The bomb spider leaped towards the right, firing a stream of fire towards the exo’s direction.

Lith looked to her right, eyeing the gauge listed as ‘energy’ dropping down to less than half of its amount. She pressed on a combination of two buttons on the dashboard and shifted her stick to the right. Her mecha dashed out of the line of fire, unloading a stream of lasers and bullets towards the bomb spider.

The bomb spider held up two of its legs in a cross, blocking a small percent of the projectiles striking it. Lith leaped forward and punched it in its body, launcing it towards the building. The bomb spider braced its legs against the building and leaped off of the wall. It lunged its legs within the joints of Lith’s exo.

Lith’s seat vibrated with a violent shake, eliciting a wince and a tight grip of the arms on the chair. She set her eyes on the energy gauge. She scowled when it reached down to a tenth of the full bar.

“Get. Off!” She shouted.

Her exo pulled its right arm back and punched it in the body, knocking it onto the ground. The bomb spider stood up and opened a compartment underneath its body. Several metal balls rolled out of the gap and along the floor. The exo dove towards the right, avoiding the stream of balls and the ensuing explosion from them.

The exo held its right arm out towards the bomb spider, launching a fist into the bomb spider. Her exo leaped up towards the top of the building. The bomb spider turned around and shifted its optical sensors around. Mono’s exo dropped down onto it, striking its top with a fist at sonic speed. His exo then kicked it towards the gate.

“It’s about time you got here, Mono.” With her exo dropping down to the ground, Lith said.

“I would have been here sooner, but some of the dragons were blocking the path into the city. Are you alright?”

“Yes, but my exo’s energy levels are down to ten percent. My exo can’t really sustain any more damage.”

“My exo’s energy levels are down to fifteen percent. So, it looks like we have to take care of this bomb with an eighth of our combined energy levels.” Mono said.

A sharp grin emerged on Lith’s face.

“We’ve had much tougher challenges than this. All we need is just even one percent of our combined teamwork and we can permanently disarm this bomb.”

Lith’s exo leaped onto Mono’s shoulders, vaulting off of them and aiming its arms towards the bomb spider below. A stream of lasers fired from its wrists and clanged against the armor of the bomb.

Mono’s exo fired a large missile from its shoulder, bursting into flames upon collision with the spider. The fiery heat of the explosion chipped away at the metal coating of the spider. Past the exoskeleton is a dual tank which transferred a golden liquid through a pipe underneath a torch.

“Huh. So that is how it is capable of shooting flamethrowers.” Lith noted.

Her exo stomped down on the bomb spider’s tanks. The liquid burst out of the spider and spilled onto the virtual ground.

“Lith. You go help out Fei and Keldeo. I’ll stick behind to make sure that this is properly defused.” Mono instructed.

“Right.”

Lith nodded. Her exo transformed into a pony shape and galloped out of the gate. Mono’s exo touched upon the spraying wires of the bomb.

---

Keldeo’s exo stabbed through a dragon and slashed upwards. The dragon fell onto the ground with the top portion of its body bisected. Fei’s exo became drowned out in flames.

“Fei! Are you alright?!” Keldeo shouted.

“I’m fine.” Fei grunted through his teeth. “But my exo can’t handle much more of these flames.”

His exo leaped back and fired a volley of missiles towards the dragon in front of it. The ensuing explosions erupted in a veil of black smoke. Fei’s exo sidestepped its way through the smoke towards the back of the dragon. It launched its fist forward, but the dragon smacked it away with a swipe of its tail. Fei gasped.

“I’m coming, Fei!” Keldeo shouted, leaping into the air and slashing the back of the dragon.

The smoke subsided and the dragon fell to the ground. Fei sighed and smiled.

“Thanks for having my back, Keldeo.”

“Not a problem.” Keldeo responded.

A dragon that is five times larger than the other dragons descended upon the two exos. It had two red eyes and the metal on it was blacker than night. It roared in their faces. Lith’s exo ran from the mouth of the city, firing a barrage of bullets at the dragon. The dragon gazed at Lith with a fiery stare.

“You won’t be hurting any of my partners. If you want to get to them, you’ll have to go through me!” Lith shouted.

The city and landscape vanished into darkness and the octagon-shaped room flashed back into existence.

“Uhhh… did we do something wrong?” Mono asked.

“I’m not too sure, Mono. It was very unusual how the simulation stopped there.” Fei stated.

The four unbuckled themselves and plopped their feet and hooves onto the ground. A set of doors hidden within a nearby wall slid apart, revealing a smiling Spitfire and Fluttershy.

“Spitfire! Fluttershy! Why did you two come out of a hidden set of doors?” Lith asked.

“Why, I wanted to congratulate you four on completing the simulation portion of your exam!” Spitfire answered.

“Wait… we passed? But, we didn’t finish all of our requirements.” Fei stated.

“The bomb was disarmed and the waves of enemies were mostly defeated. Plus, you four have shown the true meaning of camaraderie that we look for in pilots. As far as I’m concerned, you four have the great making to be exo pilots.” Spitfire assured.

“You four were amazing. I was with Spitfire because I eventually want to be a certified pilot and I’ve noticed that you used some very interesting formation tactics.” Fluttershy stated. “The way that you split up into different groups to take care of sub objectives comes to mind.”

“That’s nice to say. It was definitely a difficult task, especially with the realistic effects happening.” Mono said.

“Neo Canterlot put in a lot of money to ensure that we deliver the best quality exams for our test takers. I will share your results with the rest of the Board of H.O.R.S.E.” Spitfire stated. “Now Fluttershy, it would be a bit different when you eventually take your test. But, I have the utmost confidence in you. You are quickly developing into a fine soldier on the field in addition to your other talents.”

“Thank you for your words, Spitfire. I promise that I will live up to those expectations if I do not exceed them at the very least.” Fluttershy said with a moving voice.

A casual smile appeared on Spitfire’s face. She knocked her right hoof into Fluttershy’s right shoulder.

“You’re doing me proud already. As for the rest of you, you have the rest of the day off to do whatever.”

---

Big Macintosh sat alone on the bench in the exo bay, gazing at the ground and sighing. He lifted his right hoof to his face, gazing at the fetlock at the end.

“Big Mac! There you are!” Applejack shouted, running toward towards Big Macintosh. “Are you still feeling down about the loss of our friends in the last battle?”

“Yep.” Big Macintosh uttered out.

“Don’t feel so bad about it, Big Mac. They placed their lives on the line to defend Neo Canterlot’s way of life. They all died heroic deaths.” Applejack responded, patting Big Macintosh on his shoulder.

“Like how Ma and Pa died when they fought against the Van’Goth? You know that they died because the Van’Goth learned from the tactics of the Heavy Armor division at the time. Now, they’ve learned the Pokémon’s moves as well.”

“I suppose that is true. H.O.R.S.E. was quite ignorant when they deployed our parents and the Heavy Armor division to that area for battle. But, soldiers will die sooner or later in battle. We are literally living like it is the last day of our lives every day at H.O.R.S.E.”

“That’s why I worry, little sis. I worry because I might lose you to the army. Then little Apple Bloom would be next and then I’ll have no more siblings… Why can’t this war just end?” Big Macintosh asked, rubbing his face into his front hooves.

“This war would have ended two months ago if the Pokémon never decided to aid us in our efforts. We owe them our lives up to this point.” Applejack commented.

Big Macintosh stood up from the bench and looked out towards the gate leading into the Terraformed Wilderness.

“I’ll be off to do some things like recon and stuff. Don’t go looking for me, Applejack, for I will come back on my own time. If I run into trouble, I’ll let the others know of my situation.”

“Alright, Big Mac, but be careful out there. It still isn’t too safe.” Applejack warned.

Big Macintosh walked down the road, looking back at Applejack with a frown. He looked forward with no further movements of his head.

Author's Note:

Writing battles from a mech point of view is weird to do. But, hopefully you enjoy this chapter as well.