A New Dimension, A New Threat

by ZeroChill

Strong as a H.O.R.S.E.

A sea of screams reverberated throughout all of Neo Canterlot. The citizens galloped and flew away from the impending mechas. One light-green earth pony stallion tripped over a crack on the ground. Pushing his torso up from the ground with his front legs, he looked behind him. His blood chilled, his pupils dilated and his body sweat at the sight of a mecha hovering above him.

“No, no, no!” He shouted with primordial fear filling his voice.

From a gray sphere on its body, a red laser fired towards the downed stallion, disintegrating him completely. Mono, Lith, Rondo and Jasmine’s vocal cords were constricted in disbelief. Their bodies became prisons to reality. Spitfire scrunched her eyebrows and swiped her hoof along a black coaster on her desk. From it, a hologram of a donkey head appeared.

“Spitfire to Docking Bay! Bring out every possible Mecha Pilot into the action, now! This is an order!”

A hoof was raised from the hologram and was arched onto the donkey’s head in salute. The hologram vanished. Spitfire eyed the Pokémon in front of her with rigid expressions.

“You may not be H.O.R.S.E. agents, but we need every available fighter in our midst, Equusian and Pokémon, to go down there and combat the threat. If we do not, more civilians will end up like that poor stallion that was vaporized to oblivion.”

Mono, Lith, Rondo and Jasmine flashed nervous glances at each other. Through a nod, what anxiety they possessed blasted away with mutual understanding taking its place.

“We’ll do it.” Lith responded.

The group of Pokémon rushed out of the room through the door behind them. Spitfire glanced towards the door with narrowed eyes and her lips formed into a faint smile.

---

Smoke had risen from smoldering buildings and blasted holes on the streets. A storm of black missiles flew from across the air, unleashing fiery explosions that knocked the Equusians into the air. The enemy mechas shifted their bodies into bipedal forms, walking down the burning streets in unison with each other.

A volley of lasers shot down towards them, pelting them and veiling the area in smoke. In the air above were white mechas with blue visors. They were pelting the mechas below with a storm of bullets. One of the mechas flew down, revealing a silver blade within its gauntlet. With it, the mecha stabbed through the chest of the invading machine and sliced downwards. Electricity crackled and wires snapped. An explosion pulsed throughout the area.

“We got one!” A male voice called out in a joyous tone.

The surrounding black mechas lifted their plates from their chest, revealing a myriad of holes on them. Missiles fired from them and flew towards the lone mecha. One after the other, explosions that rose to a tower’s length ingested the machine, tearing it to shreds.

A black gun materialized in the hand of one of the enemy machines. With deadeye aim, each bullet pierced into the white fleet’s vizors. The white mechas became wreathed in a shower of electricity and fell onto the ground.

“Mayday! Mayday! Alpha Exo Squad down!”

Spitfire grimaced and tightened her front ankles onto the desk.

“Get out of your cockpits in any way you can! Continue the fight as your Equusian selves!”

On command, the chests of the downed mechas hissed. The doors on their chests lifted and revealed ponies, griffons, donkeys deer and changelings garbed in black latex suits. They were catapulted into the air. On their shoulders, metal buckles undid themselves and shown their forms as cannons.

The griffons, changelings and pegasi of the group flew into the sky, showering the mechas with a rain of purple lasers. The other members of the group pulled silver levers on their suits, revealing black parachutes. Beams of blue light emerged from the bracelets on their front ankles, shaping themselves into blades.

All of the airborne Equusians flew into the faces of the black mechas and stabbed their visors. Crawling their way through with the intrusion of spiders, each troop slashed apart the wires holding the machinery together. One by one, each mecha collapsed upon itself. The Equusians inside jumped out through the broken visor, escaping the falling debris.

“First enemy formation defeated! We’re moving on to go against the others.” A brown earth pony mare with a brown mane called through her bracelet.

“Excellent. Make sure you subdue all the invaders.” Spitfire commanded.

A black mecha descended upon the group of Equusians. Its dark fires slowed down to a halt, kicking up a storm of dust. It pumped a black shotgun at hand and aimed it at the squadron.

Through the hologram, Spitfire heard a loud ignition and the sound of viscous liquid hitting the ground. She closed her eyes, frowned and shook her head with a slow speed. She glanced over towards the twin cannons holstered onto a mannequin and shut her eyes. With her eyelids shooting open, a fire ignited into her heart.

---

A black-feathered griffon with a white head, a green-coated doe and violet-coated unicorn mare with a chartreuse-colored mane and tail, stood back-to-back with each other. Each of them was covered in thick black armor. All three of them flashed frustrated grimaces directed towards the black mechas walking towards them. The unicorn of the group looked back to her teammates.

“Razor Wind, Hydrangea; if we fall here today, I want you to know that you two are my best friends in all my years as a H.O.R.S.E. agent.”

“The feeling is mutual, Strawberry Delight. But, let’s see how many of these scums we can take down before we go down.” The griffon, Razor Wind, responded with a cocky tone.

“United we stand, and united we fall. Let us show these ruffians the true meaning of our bonds!” The doe, Hydrangea, stated.

The trio charged forward. Blue lasers forming into lancers emerged from their front right gauntlets.

Hydrangea jumped high into the air and plunged her lance through the mecha’s visor. She showered the inside of the head with black spheres popping out of her left gauntlet. Rolling down the head, the spheres exploded along with the machine.

Razor Wind flew into the air, scaling the mecha before him. He stabbed its joints using his lance, bringing it down to its knees. Pressing a black switch on his gauntlet, the lance disappeared. In its place, a large laser shot from his talon and through the mecha’s chest, destroying it.

Strawberry Delight’s horn flashed in a yellow color, conjuring a yellow sphere that hummed with energy. Flipping to her front, she kicked the ball with her right hind hoof. The ball struck the mecha in the chest and rebounded towards her. She thrust her lance into the sphere, launching it at sonic speed. The sphere rushed into the mecha, carrying it halfway across the city and exploding it.

Razor Wind, Hydrangea and Strawberry Delight hopped back with their backs to the wall. From the air, more mechas three times more than the mechas they have destroyed arrived. One of them held a gattling gun and aimed it towards the three Equusians. Their armor was rained down upon with a stream of sonic bullets. Their eyes twitched and they bent down onto their knees. One mecha unveiled its missile silos and stood in front of the trio.

Razor Wind, Hydrangea and Strawberry Delight all closed their eyes and turned their heads away, expecting the biting fires to take their lives. The sounds of hissing smoke ejecting from the mecha came, but the tongues of explosive flames had not eaten them. Opening their eyes and looking forwards, they saw a myriad of missiles held in place through a psychokinetic aura. The missiles shifted their direction and shot the mecha, destroying it.

“Are you three okay?”

The trio of Equusians looked to the right for the source of the voice. Mono and Lith stood on top of a mound of debris. The light within their eyes faded away. Lith hopped down into the group.

“Ummm, I don’t know what to say. But… thank you.” Strawberry Delight voiced with slow words.

“But… who are you two?” Hydrangea asked.

The robots stomped forth, shaking the very ground with their steps.

“We can worry about introductions after we aren’t in danger. Right now, we have a fight on our hands.” Lith stated, extending her right paw out.

Mono’s eyes flashed. Holding his two paws out, a sphere of pink energy generated within the space. The orb broke, releasing a wave of sparkles that spread amongst the downed Equusians. Their wounds healed over with new flesh and a surge of dopamine rushed into their brains. The three of them uttered content sighs.

“Feeling better now?” Mono asked.

“Much better.” In an elated tone, Razor Wind responded. “Alright! Now we can kick some butt again!”

Hydrangea and Strawberry Delight nodded. The three charged forth against the mechas down the path. Lith glanced over to Mono, displaying a small smirk.

“I didn’t know you are capable of learning Heal Pulse.”

“I didn’t think Flareons were capable of learning Flare Blitz.”

“Good point.”

Mono and Lith rushed forward with their allies. Lith’s eyes flashed in a yellow color and fired a Charge Beam from her right paw. The beam of electricity struck the face of the mecha. Twirling a black cable from his gauntlet, Razor Wind tossed the hook around its neck. Grunting and pulling back, the mecha fell onto the ground.

Hydrangea stood on her hind legs. Her bracelet transformed into a black long bow. From a slot on the side of the hind leg of her armor, she pulled out a black and red-tipped arrow and placed it on the string. Using her front hooves to pull it, she aimed her sights onto a mecha flying towards its allies. She released the string, firing the arrow into the visor of the mecha.

It exploded with brilliant flames, causing the machine to move in a dead flight, which knocked it into other mechas. It burst in a sea of flames, igniting all of the other mechas in its path. Hydrangea smirked.

“A successful shot.”

Strawberry Delight conjured a yellow barrier around her. Bullets upon bullets splashed down upon it, causing several cracks along the top of it. With the speed of hopped shadows, Mono and Lith jumped off the shield.

A shower of green leaves cloaked in an indigo aura spawned around Lith and fired themselves towards the guns of the mechas. The guns fell onto the ground. They were lifted into the air with an indigo aura and had their barrels aimed to the mechas. The triggers were pulled, rending their targets’ armor into ground metal. The light in Mono’s eyes faded. His legs wobbled and he placed his paw on his head, shaking in a daze. Lith ran to Mono, letting his body fall into her paws.

“Don’t overexert yourself, Mono. We both are still new to this.”

“You guys can rest easy now. It’s time for the fun to really begin!” Strawberry Delight stated, spinning around and smiling. The barrier turned into a series of yellow beams that struck the mechas on their joints, dropping their bodies onto the ground.

“Nice shots!” Razor Wind commented with a boisterous voice.

“Are you alright there?” Gazing upon Mono, Hydrangea asked.

“I’m fine.”

---

Armor-clad Equusians with black helmets over their heads fired a stream of lasers from the cannons on their backs. Enemy lasers pierced through the helmets of their numbers, shattering them. The struck Equusians fell onto the ground, limp and lifeless. With a mecha taking a step forward, a blue flare exploded near its foot and knocked it off-balance.

Spitfire flew into the scene, raining down explosive blasts of blue onto the advancing mechas. She clenched her teeth, bearing her fangs at the maws of darkness before her. She zipped down into the air, spinning and firing two bolts of her bullets into the tornado. The wild winds blown against the mechas. The flares from the bullets melded in with the strong winds, setting them on fire.

“It serves you right for claiming the lives of my troops!” She spat out with unquenchable venom in her voice.

The fires and winds faded, revealing the legion of mechas unscathed. Spitfire stared wide-eyed at the mechas, taking loose and erratic breaths.

“T-that’s not possible! That should have burned you all to cinders!”

The mechas pointed their Gatling guns at a stunned Spitfire, cocking them. A vibrant whirring echoed from their chambers, spinning the barrels. An orange wind spread its way through the scene from behind Spitfire. Her body warmed itself to its exposure. Water began building up on top of the armor of the mechas. The paint on them peeled away, revealing a rough exoskeleton underneath.

“Big damn heroes coming through!”

Rondo dove in from above the air, unleashing a Hyper Voice. The visors of the mechas shattered, causing them to shake their heads.

“Don’t hog all the fun to yourself, Rondo.”

A Dazzling Gleam shot from Jasmine’s body, lighting up the armor of the mechas. They slowed down to a stop and then collapsed.

“It looks like we made it on time.” Rondo mused, flapping his wings in the rhythm to his descents.

“Are you alright, Spitfire? You look shaken up there.” Jasmine asked.

“Rondo! Jasmine! Well, these mechas usually die when exposed to intense heat. I didn’t know why my bullets did not do much of anything to them.”

The scraped metal hovered above the air. All of the shattered pieces of metal conglomerated towards the road in front of Spitfire, Rondo and Jasmine. Purple veins appeared on the exterior of the mass, thick arms and claws formed around the hill and a chest sculpted itself from the top. The bottom shaped itself into a pair of legs with talons. A draconic head with yellow eyes appeared on the top. The monstrosity let out a glass-shattering roar.

“Ummm… that’s not supposed to happen, is it?” Rondo asked, answered by a slow shake from Spitfire’s head.

A black sphere of fire built up within the monstrosity’s mouth. It was then launched in a stream, scraping against the hairs and feathers of the ducking trio. Jasmine scrunched her eyes and waved her hand next to her face.

“That is much warmer than I expected a stream of fire to be. I’m still feeling its effects!”

With its mouth agape, the draconic zombie machine began building up black flames in its mouth once more. A dragon-shaped flame of red, blue and purple blasted into the monstrosity’s mouth, exploding the energy within it.

From the coattails of the flame, a Krookodile rushed up to its face. Her right claw flashed in a green color and slashed the face of the behemoth. From the direction of the beam, a Goodra ran into the fray and fired another dragon-shaped beam from his mouth. The beam struck the abdomen of the monstrosity. The Krookodile fell onto her feet and rushed back to the Goodra’s side.

“It seems like the situation escalated, right Custard?”

“I didn’t expect all of those machines we’ve destroyed to transform into that thing, Gnasher.”

“Gnasher! Custard!” Jasmine called out, garnering their attention.

“Jasmine? Rondo? And… who’s the orange pony over there with you two?” Gnasher asked.

“You know these two?” Spitfire asked. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll have to give them their translators when the threat it over.”

From the smoke, the dragon uttered another roar, slapping away the entire group with a steel-forged tail. The entire group was downed. While the others grimaced from the blow, a sinister smile brewed upon Gnasher’s face. She stood up from the ground, cracking her claws and her neck.

“Finally, someone worthy of a challenge. You’d think a horde of mechas would prove to be a challenge, but they all die to a single Earthquake. Let’s see if this mecha here falls the same way.”

With these words, she curled her claws into a fist and punched the ground. The ground shook and collided upon itself, creating spires the size of mountains that crushed the dragon. With a swing of its arm, the spires shattered. The shards sped towards Gnasher, who opened her mouth and crunched them.

The draconic machine thrust its claws towards her direction, stabbing her and knocking her back. Gnasher clenched her teeth and roared.

“Is that all you got? Magikarp hit harder than you do!”

She ran up to the machine, opening her jaws to the size of a vicegrip. Fires raged inside of her mouth. She snapped her fangs upon the arm of the behemoth, tearing it off. With her claws flashing, she sliced off the other arm. The draconic machine roared, charging a black fireball in its mouth. A gust of black flares struck Gnasher. Seeing this, Custard’s eyes shot open and his mouth hung low.

“Gnasher!!!!” He shouted.

With the flames dissipating, Gnasher was no longer in her spot. A burning rage formed within Custard’s eyes. His mouth curved into a vicious frown. Getting up from the ground, he walked towards the behemoth. The machine fired another black flare towards Custard, caking the field in its flames. The Goodra came out unscathed.

Brown water spiraled around Custard, whipping up into a tower with him standing as the beacon on top of it. With a downward thrust of his gooey arm, the tower collapsed. A wave of filthy water the size of a tsunami stormed towards the machine, absorbing all of the debris in its wake. The wave struck the behemoth, toppling it over.

Custard sprinted towards the downed machine, glaring down onto its head. Pillars of flames built up in his mouth. He breathed it out, releasing the orange tongues in a focused stream. The head of the machine melted away. The machine stopped moving and its form reverted into a heap of scrap metal.

Custard jumped off the debris, frowning. His eyes twitched, holding back an ocean of tears. Spitfire, Rondo and Jasmine ran up to him.

“Custard! Are you alright?!” Rondo asked.

“I’m fine…” Sniffling, Custard responded. “But Gnasher… she’s gone…”

The sound of metal rending reverberated from behind him. Gnasher jumped out from amidst the scraps, unharmed by the fires, and walked over towards Custard with a casual stare directed at him. She crossed her arms.

“So… how long will it be when you realize I’m here?”

Custard turned around. His frowned flipped into a wide-mouthed smile.

“Gnasher!” He shouted, embracing her with his gooey appendages.

“Custard, please stop. Everyone is watching and you’re getting your goo on my body.”

“I thought I lost you, Gnasher! What happened?”

“Simple; I jumped in just before the flames hit me. I figured I might as well attack that thing from the inside to do massive damage.” Gnasher explained. “Though, I never expected that you would have been that vicious when I disappeared.”

“Don’t ever do that to me again, Gnasher. I don’t know what I would have done without you in my life!”

“Well, it seems like a majority of the gang is here.”

Gnasher, Custard, Rondo, Jasmine and Spitfire turned to the left. Mono, Lith, Razor Wind, Hydrangea and Strawberry Delight walked into the area with their steps synced with each other.

“That voice… Lith?! It’s you!” Custard called out, dashing towards Lith and embracing her. Lith laughed.

“Wait, so if that is Lith, then are you…” Gnasher asked, pointing towards Mono.

“Yes, Gnasher, it’s me.”

“Mono!” She shouted, running towards Mono and hugging him.

“Where have you two been at? It seems implausible that you just appeared right when the action was climaxing.” He asked.

“We were somehow in a home that belonged to beings that looked like Sawsbucks. They were afraid at first…” Gnasher rolled her eyes and sighed, slamming the palm of her right claw between her eyes. “But Custard hugged them with an affectionate grasp and realized that we weren’t as bad as they thought.”

“That definitely sounds like Custard alright. He’s a hugger after all.”

“Even if I don’t understand a word any of you two are saying, it still was quite heartwarming to see everyone’s reactions here.” Smiling, Spitfire stated. “You’re all coming by H.O.R.S.E. headquarters, right? I’m going to commission a party in the honor of all of our heroes in this battle, including the Pokémon here.”

She walked away, dusting herself off. Lith glanced towards Mono with an inquisitive smile on her face.

“Should we go, Mono? I know you don’t like parties, but it would be a good way to be formally acquainted with the city.”

“Well… Gnasher and Custard do need their translators so that they wouldn’t be mistaken as wild creatures.” Mono shrugged his shoulders. “I say we go.”

Razor Wind walked up to Gnasher and scratched his chin while glancing upon your eyes.

“Even if I can’t understand you, tell me this; how do you feel about game meat?” He asked.

“I love devouring game meat! It really suits the mood after a good hunt.” Gnasher responded with an enthusiastic smile.

“If you showed enthusiasm for that, then I think we’ll get along just fine. Come by my living quarters at the H.O.R.S.E. residential area and we’ll go hunting in the Terraformed Wilderness until we’re called to the party.”

Hydrangea eyed Custard with a smiling gaze, humming. Strawberry Delight looked upon Rondo and Jasmine’s translators.

“I could see we can both communicate with each other.” She focused her attention onto Jasmine. “You look like you are skilled with aroma manipulation. Do you mind sharing with me some of your secrets?”

Jasmine gasped and a large grin came upon her face.

“I thought nobody would have asked! Of course I’ll share with you some of my trade secrets. You are in good hands when an Aromatisse such as myself will teach you about various scents. Who knows, maybe I can even learn about a few spices in your world as well.”

Strawberry Delight and Jasmine walked together and away from the scene.

“I don’t know about you all, but I got to practice a few songs for the upcoming party! I’m sure everyone will love it.” Rondo stated.

“Of course they will, Rondo.” Lith stated.

“Just be sure to meet us in front of H.O.R.S.E. Headquarters when the sun begins to set.” Mono said.

“Will do!”

With these words, Rondo flew off into the distance.

---

Within a dark room sat a bipedal humanoid with a purple shade of hue on his skin, blond hair that flowed down to his broad shoulders and a size that towered a mountain. His yellow eyes gazed gazed upon two smaller-sized humanoids with green skin and green hair, each of whom bowed down with hurried shakes.

“Magnificent Emperor of the Van’Goth; the invasion failed.”

The emperor raised an eye and snarled.

“Every single calculation was taken into that invasion. The remote-controlled mechas being able to form into the chimera upon defeat, their ability to think three steps ahead of their enemies and even having the advantage of a surprise attack… the only way the invasion failed is if some unexpected variable were to appear.”

“Sir, if I may.”

To the right of the emperor was a blue-skinned humanoid man in a black suit with coifed hair of a silver shade and thick-framed glasses hiding away his red eyes. In his hand was a black device showing all of the destruction during the invasion.

“You have the right to speak, Wilhelm.”

“Yes. It seems that while we had an advantage at first, the intervention of a group of strange creatures wielding mystical forces entered into play. Our mechas were not equipped to handle creatures like these. As such, they were beaten by completely new forces out of our understanding.” Wilhelm explained.

“When it comes to situations like this, we need to call upon the lunatic of our empire…”

“But, sir, are you sure that is a brilliant idea?”

“I am aware of how driven he is for any sort of fun. He also is one of the few members of our race who possess an affinity for magic as well. Bring him forth and task him with testing the limits of these new creatures.” The emperor demanded.

“As you wish sir.”

With a bow, Wilhelm ran off. The emperor gazed at a hologram screen in front of him that displayed missiles returning back to the mechas, a heat wave melting away the mechas and Gnasher slashing away the Chimera’s arms.

“Just know that I am far from finished, Equusians. You shall all be eliminated for the glory of the Van’Goth.”

Comments

[mune72]

Who are the Van'Goth?
I know they are invaders

[ZeroChill]

5967199

The people at the very end of the chapter.