Of Guns, Mechs And Magic [Being rewritten in 'A Pilot's Search']

by Solarus44

Chapter 10: Rescuing The Princess

It had been two hours since the train left Ponyville, and Sol was incredibly bored. Sure, he had the training of a Pilot, and before that Ghost Squad. Hell, he and his team once had to wait three hours for an IMC Lieutenant to appear in James' scope, but Sol had his team with him then. Now, he was alone in a train car humming ‘Highway To Hell’. Sol liked his old music.

As Sol was about to finish the song, the train started to slow down. He got to his feet, and got ready beside the door. A minute after the train stopped, the door opened. Activating his Cloak before the mare entered to pull out the bags, He looked outside.

‘Buildings? Check. Castle? Check. I think I'm here.’ Slipping out of the car and past the mare, Sol entered Canterlot.

The place was definitely different to Ponyville. Shops and restaurants everywhere, apartment buildings, and Canterlot Castle in the back. Setting a waypoint for the Castle, Sol grappled to the top of a building.

Up here, the path to the Castle was much quicker and easier. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, it wasn't long until he could see guards below him. Checking their armour, Sol saw they weren't Solar Knight. He was glad, it meant he didn't have to do any killing tonight, non-lethal attacks only. Even so, Sol attached a silencer to his B3.

‘All those other Pilots and their new Wingman Elite’s,’ Sol thought as he inspected his B3, ‘Ricochet this! Ricochet that! Last I checked, Elite’s can't use silencers. No silencer, no purchase!’

Sol scanned the Castle for entrances, he couldn't use the main gate. The only other entrances he could see were the tall towers jutted out from the Castle. Jumping from his perch on the building, Cloak activated, he sneaked to the castle, being sure to avoid the guards spread around. Looking to the top of the the castle, he grappled to the top.

Landing, he saw a tower just in front of him. His grapple wouldn't be long enough to take him all the way. Grappling to as far as it could take him, the grapple retracted and when he touched the tower, he stabbed his Data-Knife into the tower, keeping him in place.

Waiting until grapple was ready again, he leapt off the tower and grappled higher again. This time, Sol was close enough to wall run around the tower, the circular shape allowing him to wrap around it until he was at the top.

Reaching the top, he found himself on a balcony. The balcony’s decor was blue and black, with a moon sigil set in the floor. Sol travelled down a flight of stairs, the stairs even maintaining the colour choice. Upon reaching the end of the stairs, he entered a bedroom that was completely blue, black and dark. A massive bed, multiple old looking objects spread through room and a giant bookshelf with spell books galore all indicated this room belonged to a very important Pony. He also noticed that the sheets were messy, there was a variety of objects on the ground and a drawer was on its side. A struggle had definitely occurred here.

A picture on the bedside table caught his eye. Picking it up, he saw it was a picture of a white colt with brown spots dressed in an adorable pirate costume. But the tall mare standing beside the colt, really took his breath away. This mare had a dark blue coat with an ethereal mane, speckled with what looked to be the stars. Her light blue eyes shined with a happiness that her smile definitely showed as well.

“Beautiful,” Sol breathed. He didn't find her beautiful in a sexual way, he hasn't been in Equestria anywhere near long enough to find Ponies attractive. But beautiful like a work of art was beautiful, unlike humans who, as much as Sol didn't like to admit it, were far from works of art.

It wasn't until Sol noticed the wings AND horn, did he realise who this mare was: Princess Luna.

‘Well I mean, if I rescue her, it should shine me in a good light for when I’m interested!’ Sol chuckled at that thought.

Putting the picture down, he walked towards the door. Having no way to check if there were guards on the other side, he knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal two Unicorn guards, both entering. “Hello? Anypony in here?” The Unicorn looked at his comrade, nodded, and they both spread through the room.

The Unicorn was in the other side of the room when she heard two hoof stamps. Turning around, he saw the other Unicorn staring at a dark corner of the room. Staring closer, she saw a shape in the darkness. Both Unicorns edged closer to the shape, until finally, both jumped on the shape.

“Got ya!” The Unicorn held up the culprit revealing… a broom.

“What?!” Both Unicorns shouted in unison. Neither of them noticed the faint Pilot-sized shape exit the room.

As Sol turned a corner, out of the sight line of Luna’s rooms, he could only shake his head and mutter, “Idiots.”

Assessing the situation, he realised he was on the top floor, and his objective was the lowest floor. He had to sneak through an entire enemy Castle which held a demigod and no doubt was crawling with guards. ‘Just another Monday,’ Sol thought.

Looking down the corridor, he saw a total of two pairs of guards. Each pair standing in front of a door. Past them, a flight of stairs.

Whistling, he sent a Holopilot down another corridor. The guards saw this and chased after. Sol walked down the now free stairs, knowing the Holopilot will soon disappear, leaving the guards confused. All he needed to do now was use cloak whenever he went past a level to hide him from the guards occasionally looking towards the stairs.

When he reached ground floor, he cloaked and snuck past the tired guards. It seems since all Lunar Guard member have probably been imprisoned, the Royal Guards had to cover the night shifts, something they were not used to. He was thankful, if they were alert, they would've noticed the shimmer Sol gave off when cloaked.

He saw a pair of guards get relieved from another, and followed them to find the Barracks. Following them, it didn't take long until they reached the Barracks. When the second Pony entered and let the door close behind him, Sol slipped in, Cloak activated.

The Barracks was row after row of bunks. But each bunk had a bedside table next to for personal possessions. Sneaking past each bunk, careful not to wake them, he reached the other side. On the other side was another door with the sign, ‘Dungeons’.

‘Great way to announce to any intruders,’ Sol rolled his eyes.

Opening the door slowly, he entered and closed the door with little sound. Looking around, he found himself at the top of a stone staircase. Going down the stairs, he was now in a long corridor, with cells on either side.

Walking down the corridor, he found there to be little prisoners. The ones Sol did find, he cloaked past. ‘That's odd. Even if Ponies are rather peaceful, I would've thought they'd have a few more criminals. And where are the Lunar Guards?’

As Sol was near the end of the corridor where it left and right, he saw a steel clad Pony travel down the right passage.

‘Steel, probably Solar Knights,’ He grimaced as he drew his B3, hoping he wouldn't have to use it.

He travelled down the right passage, and confirmed his suspicion. The Unicorn was a Solar Knight. Deciding not to kill her, Sol went to follow her. It was his best chance to find Luna.

He ghosted the Knight, only activating his Cloak when she turned around. This led him to a large chamber, with a cell on the other side with runes set in the stone.

‘I think I've found Luna,’ Sol thought as he noticed the big problem: The abundance of Solar Knights.

There were twenty in total, each positioned around the chamber. Although they were spread around the room, pockets of them were close to each other, leaving them vulnerable to his ordnance.

Drawing his R-201, he jumped into the air. Tossing a Gravity Star into a group of four, he watched as they were sucked in before he sprayed in the Star’s vicinity. All bullets hitting a target thanks to the Gravity Star. When all the Knights turned to face him, he had already cloaked, leaving a Holopilot in his place. When five Knights jumped on it, Sol tossed his Arc Grenade, stunning all five. Peppering them with holes using the bullets left in his magazine, he turned to face the rest.

There were eleven left, he still had a Gravity Star and he was going to use the Electric Smoke for an escape. They went into a formation: Earth Ponies in the front with Unicorns in the back. There were no Pegasi, which made sense, they were in the dungeons after all.

‘Did they ever learn?’ Sol smirked as he drew his Gravity Star, waiting for the right moment.

The Unicorns fired off a barrage of spells, but he had already tossed the Star in front of him. The Gravity Star drew in all the spells, and Sol picked up a large Earth Pony corpse and hid behind it, smearing his suit with blood.

The Star detonated, showering the room with the spells it had collected. Now Sol was only one target, crouched behind a meat shield. The spells did not harm him, but the Knights were not so fortunate. A majority of the Knights were shredded by the spells. Even the Unicorns were not spared, since the Earth Ponies in front of them did not last long.

Tossing the now charred corpse to the side, Sol found three Unicorns left. The three stood up, and prepared for a valiant last defence. But Sol was a soldier of the most dangerous battlefield in human history, valiance was not going to sway him.

Running forward, he punched the the first Unicorn in the chest, sending him flying into the wall with a sickening crack. The armour had stung Sol’s hand a little.

The second jumped at him, ready to deliver a kick. But Sol took her by surprise and flared his jump-kit, slamming into the mare and sending her crashing into the roof. The last one lit up his horn, and before Sol could get to him, fired a spell. The spell Sol in the leg, making him wince in pain. Drawing his Data-Knife, he threw it into the stallion’s face. The Unicorn fell to the ground.

Sol checked his leg, it stung, but his helmet told him it was nothing. ‘You can do everything besides play some music can't you?’

Kneeling beside the stallion, he pulled out his Knife. Some blood sprayed onto his hand, but Sol paid it no mind. Walking up to the cell, he found what was definitely Luna. Currently, she was sound asleep. Sol knew being able to sleep through the fight definitely wasn't possible. Looking at the runes outside the cell, he guessed they were putting Luna to sleep, as well as mitigating her magic most likely.

Inching his hands towards the cell, scared of a curse or something that might hurt him, he grasped the bars. Nothing, nothing happened.

‘Phew.’

Wondering how to free Luna from her cage, Sol saw the lock. ‘AHA!’ Rummaging through his pouches, he pulled out a kit. A lockpicking kit. When he was in Ghost-Squad, he was handed this to pick locks. Grunts didn't have Data-Knives, so they needed to know to pick locks. The kit had everything from lockpicks to electronic overrides!

Picking the right lockpick, he inserted it into the key slot. Fiddling around for a minute, he finally unlocked it. ‘Gotta hurry! No doubt someone heard that commotion.’ Running into the cage, he picked up Luna and put her over his left shoulder. ‘Wow, she's lighter than I thought.’

With his left arm holding onto Luna and his right holding his B3 out in front of him, Sol exited the room.

Sprinting down the corridor, Sol reached the fork when he heard hoofsteps running in his direction. Placing Luna on the ground gently, he pulled his R-201 off his back and knelt down. Looking down the H-COG, he placed a Unicorn’s head in his sight.

PHAT!

The Unicorn went down with a red spray. The others stopped to see him at the fork.

PHAT! PHAT! PHAT! PHAT!

Downing the remaining four, he placed his rifle on his back. Equipping his B3 and picking up Luna again, Sol sprinted down the corridor. Running up the stairs, he opened the Dungeon door to find Royal Guards putting on armour in a hurry. Running through the Barracks, surprising various Ponies, he reached the Barracks door. Opening the door, he looked behind to see Royal Guards running to him. Throwing down his Electric Smoke, he kept on running.

Running through the castle, shoving servants aside, and making the occasional one scream if they got a good look, he reached a window leading outside; Letting Luna down, he punched through the glass, shattering it. Picking Luna back up, he jumped out the window. He landed, and the fall wasn't much, he was on the ground floor after all!

Sol was outside the front of the Castle. He could see the Royal Guard out here already running to him. Sprinting forward, he jumped over the first Guard. He could see the Guard’s jaw was dropped.

He reached the building, where he had scouted the Castle from, and grappled to the top. He could hear the shouts of the Guards, almost definitely calling for Pegasi. As he ran over the buildings, he saw his suspicion was correct: looking back, he saw five Pegasi flying for him.

He waited for the first to get dangerously close, and once she was about to tackle him, he cloaked. The Pegasus looked around in confusion, but then felt pain and collapsed as something collided with her chest.

Sol looked at the unconscious Pegasus and started to run again. All four dived for him this time. He sent two Holopilots running in front of him. Two dived for the Holopilot on the left, Two for the right, and only one for him. Twisting around, he gave the stallion a vicious kick. Not hard enough to kill him though, he didn't want to kill any Guards. The stallion was on the ground unconscious.

He jumped onto another Pegasus, and punched his partner, sending him to the ground. Jumping into the air, he came back onto the Pegasus he was on with a kick.

The last two had caught their Holopilot, just to have it dissipate. As they were looking around confused, Sol launched into one with a kick. Before the other could react he kicked her too.

‘It's good I always liked kicks! Otherwise I'd be screwed since I'm carrying Luna!’ Sol thought as he shifted his grip on Luna.

Sprinting away again, he came back to the train station, he wasn't far from the Canterlot gates. He came to the gates to find them closed. Cursing, he grappled to the top.

Landing on the wall, he jumped down from it. Turning around, he saw the gate lower, and a horde of Royal Guards storm out. Looking towards the cliff, and then towards the horde, he chose the cliff.

Jumping off the cliff, he gripped onto Luna tightly with both hands.

‘This is a huge drop!’ Sol thought, ‘I've done HALO jumps sure! But still!’

He was approaching a forest, and fast. About halfway, he flared his jumpkit. Landing, he checked if Luna was hurt, she wasn't. Checking her also showed Sol she was still asleep. ‘She must still be recovering from those runes.’

Looking up, he saw Pegasi diving off the cliff. He ran into the forest. Looking around the forest, at how tight the area was, how dark it was, and the cover, He smirked.

‘Let's see how they fare when darkness falls.’

Author's Note:

Hello, sorry for the rather short chapters for the amount of time between updates. I'm just really lazy I guess. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

And I case someone asks how Sol faced against 20 highly trained Solar Knights and only got a slight burn. Pilots are pretty powerful. Examples of this are shown throughout both games, from Pilots utterly slaughtering Grunts. To a single Pilot and his Titan (Jack and BT) going behind enemy lines and essentially killing enough enemies to make up a small army.
The real reason Sol shall be powerful (not OP), is from the new mode Frontier Defence. (Also in the first game). In this mode 4 pilots, just 4, hold off 5 waves of Grunts, Spectres, Stalkers, Titans etc. Each wave consists of around 100 enemies. And a Grunt is definitely better than a Solar Knight, especially since Pilots were originally Grunts themselves. of course, you get your Titan after wave 1, but that is still 100 enemies vs 4 Pilots in the first.

Sorry for that ^. Just seen on a couple fics people complaining about a characters power level in fics (especially bad when the character is non-magical).

Comments

[Razzy]

Go Sol go!

Then it turns out that Luna wasn't affected by any runes, she's just that heavy of a sleeper.

[Chronokat]

In my opinion I'm betting celestia didn't know what the solar knights were upto. She couldn't be that dumb twice. I think she'd let equestria burn before losing luna again. The solar Knights are probably run by self entitled nobility who are speciast.

[Knightwolf1875]

8338521
I second you on this idea. Celestia loves her sister way to much to do this kind of thing. My money is on Blueblood.

[Dan_Bull]

‘All those other Pilots and their new Wingman Elite’s,’ Sol thought as he inspected his B3, ‘Ricochet this! Ricochet that! Last I checked, Elite’s can't use silencers. No silencer, no purchase!’

Fucking love how you dedicated that part to me! Made me grin, no hate, just pure giggles.

[Solarus44]

8340486
I hoped you'd enjoy that!

[shadowgod3211]

*sees luna imprisoned* THIS IS HERESY!!!!! THE SUN TYRANT IS A HERETIC!!!!