Chapter 6*; honour
Here guys, have a recap, on the house. I know I definitely need it.
In short; I ended up going into a desert without packing any water... I know, a dumb move, but I picked up an awakening beacon. I didn't really think twice when... Or at all apparently.
Anyway, after a brief spell passed out in the desert, I woke up in a strange camp, a campfire directly next to me and a bottle of water by my side. And after downing half the bottle, my saviour revealed themselves to be... Shane!
For those of you who just tuned in for today's upload; hey there, welcome to Project Horizon! Here's to hoping you get used to my constant idiocy and random references.
For that minority (or anyone who feels up for a recap), I'll give you yet another recap; Shane Locksdale is, well, another virtue I know. He was part of the bigger social group, so we never really spoke much. The only reason I know him is because we both bumped into each other before everything with the project even started. We were close friends, but we almost never got the opportunity to speak. But when we did, then my god, we got on like a house on fire!
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
It'd been roughly ten minutes since my re-introduction with Shane, and those ten minutes were filled with my constant guzzling of gallons of nice, cold water. And once the point came that the amount of H2O in me was normal, I finally relaxed.
"Ahh... I could bow down to you right now, Shane. You're a legend," I complimented my friend, my voice now feeling slightly less rough than before... Despite how I now felt bloated as fuck.
"I hope you feel better. You weren't in the greatest state upon your recovery," Shane explained, joining me in sitting on the log. "Perhaps if you remembered to keep hydrated, you'd be in a better condition."
"Yeah, I'll remember to keep that noted," I told him, taking off my shoes and removing the sand from it. "Seriously. Of all the places for you to land, fate picked the desert?"
"I'm just fortunate I wasn't one of the pods that imploded. Although that doesn't mean it's right that anyone lost their lives," Shane said, turning his head at his second comment.
"Oh yeah, you knew the girls better than I did. You probably feel worse about it than me," I presumed, holding his shoulder in support.
Shane just responded with a shrug, shaking my hand from his shoulder. "They wouldn't want us to grieve them. I'll miss them, but what’s important is that we move forward."
"Can't really argue with that logic, can I?" I said, concluding our grieving segment of our conversation. "Wait a minute, where's Applejack and Rainbow?"
"It took you this long to figure out they were missing?" Shane asked, giving me a blank stare.
"Hey, do you want to pass out in the desert and try remember anything?" I asked in return, returning the blank stare Shane gave me. In response, Shane rolled his eyes and backed off.
"If you're referring to the two creatures that accompanied you here, I've allowed then rest inside the ship. However, they haven't awoken yet," Shane informed me, pointing towards his ship shard, which was concealed by several trees and bits of shrubbery.
"Oh, alright. As long as they've been cared for," I noted, leaning over and looking up at the sky. "Seriously though, I had no idea this planet would be so much like earth. I thought we'd have to jump-start life here or something."
"If you're referring to the planet’s life, then I was expecting it. Why else would the project heavily arm us?" Shane asked.
"Because they're American, that's why," I returned, making Shane chuckle a bit. (Once again, no offence.)
"Jokes aside, why else would they arm us with weapons other than for protection and hunting?" Shane once again asked, joining me where I sat.
"Alright, I see your point," I said, rolling my eyes. "It's not really what I meant though. I'm just surprised how... Similar things are."
"I wouldn't know. All I've seen is a desert," Shane commented, gesturing to the dunes ahead of us.
"They have towns. They have trains. They have farms. Need I go on?" I listed.
"Do they have electricity?" Shane asked out of curiosity.
"I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did," I told Shane, sticking my hands into my pockets. In doing to, I felt and got out the USB drive cloud gave me. "Oh, right."
"What's the drive for?" Shane asked, taking it from me without thought.
"I'm... Not really sure. My ship’s AI just told me to stick it in your ship’s computer," I explained, scratching my head and trying to recall why (and guess what? The idiot didn't tell me what it was for! Brilliant.)
"In that case, I recommend you do that. I would, but I'm not exactly skilled at using computers," Shane recommended, gesturing once more to his ship fragment.
"Alright then, but I don't see what's so hard about sticking in a USB." I groaned, using all my body’s might in order to stand up. "Lead the way."
After stretching my aching legs, Shane and I walked past the small lake and to his ship fragment.
In terms of description... There's nothing else really to describe. His ship had the same design as mine, so there's nothing new to add... Well, except for a hammock in the corner... And the two couches he was using to let the girls rest.
Wait, the girls!
Almost as soon as I entered, I immediately rushed over to the closest of them; Rainbow Dash. I then did the only thing I could think of at the moment, check her heartbeat. I placed my hand firmly on my chest...
And good, she's alright.
"You needn't worry about them. They should be coming to shortly," Shane told me, placing his hand firmly on my shoulder. "I can't pretend to understand their anatomy, but I do have a basic understanding of first aid. They'll be fine."
And thus we walked over to the main computer terminal, where I patted down the computer to find a USB port.
"Hey Shane, could you ask your AI to tell me where a USB port is?" I asked Shane, unsure as to the AI's name.
"It'd be a task, considering the thing is gone," Shane told me, leaving me enough space to do my job... Despite the fact I stopped dead as soon as I heard what he said.
"What do you mean by 'gone'? Is it missing?" I asked, looking over to him for an answer.
"No, it's 'gone' gone. It… died or something," Shane explained, leaning against the desk with his head in his palms. "It went all pixelated one minute, then it just… flashed and disappeared."
(Okay, that's not good.)
"So it… fragmented…? That's not good."
"Care to explain what 'fragmenting' is? I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to tech. Not as much as you anyway," Shane admitted, the both of us resuming the search for the fabled USB port. (Why do they never put these things somewhere smart?)
"Well, all I really have to go off is Red vs Blue, so I can't promise it's accurate," I started, opening up a panel to get into the wired underbelly of the desk. "Fragmentation usually occurs later on for AIs, as they usually deteriorate and fade away. Only thing is it typically happens long after rampancy. As such, fragmentation out of the blue is… weird, to say the least."
"Any theories as to why it would happen prematurely?" Shane asked.
"Well, we do need to keep one thing in mind; these aren't proper AI's we're working with. They're fragments," I noted.
"Regular AI have a lifespan of seven years, so perhaps splitting them up caused that to lower or something?"
"Nine fragments were created. That still leaves them… half a year or something?" Shane asked, with a high degree of accuracy considering he's not really good at maths.
(Fun fact; that'd leave about 0.77 of a year.)
"Look man, I'm currently neck-deep in wires right now. As horrific as the loss of your AI is, could we try to focus in the task at hand please?" I asked. "Jeez, looking for a USB slot through all these wires is like trying to find a Russel Howard routine where he doesn’t take the piss out of Queen Elizabeth II.."
"Hey, I found a port," Shane alerted me.
"Wait, you did? Where wa-" I was in the middle of asking, shortly before taking a falling knot of wires to the head. "Why am I the only one who ends up getting injured around here?"
"Idiocy aside…." Shane started, waiting for me to untangle myself from the underside of the desk. "They hid the ports in a hidden compartment on the side of the Projection module."
"Okay, what was with those scientists and hiding things in secret compartments?" I asked, still grouchy over being hit in the head.
"I seriously doubt the usefulness of venting right now. We found what we were looking for," Shane explained, helping me up from the floor. "I'll leave the rest to you. I'll make sure your friends are alright."
And thus Shane walked off, leaving me to work my magic. I stuck the USB in one of the three available slots and sat on the… oddly hard seat, to begin to do… whatever it was I had to do. Cloud never actually told me what this was for, so it was basically just a guessing game at the time.
As per expected, the files appeared on the computer within seconds of me placing the USB in, and after a quick browse of the files, I found out what was going on… I think.
-launch file; Ship_link.EXE-
Yeah… I think the file title explains what's going on. It seemed Cloud wanted to, well, link the ships. I wasn't really sure why he wanted to do so, but I guess he had his reasons.
Speaking if ol' bitchy, guess who appeared on the screen a couple of seconds later?
Yep, Cloud did. And he near enough gave me a heart attack in the process.
"Wassup, fuckers?!" Cloud shouted, being a lot more enthusiastic than he usually is.
"Dude, don't do that! You nearly killed me!" I shouted, getting an awkward look from Shane in the process.
"Alright, sorry. Just trying to have a joke," Cloud said, several files now popping up on the screen. "The ships are synced now, I can take it from here."
"Ok… but what was the point of syncing the ships anyway?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Access to the data in Shane's ship? The ability to triangulate future ship fragments?" Cloud explained.
"Oh, alright. That makes sense," I said, taking a quick glance over at the girls, who were beginning to wake back up. "You sure you've got it from here?"
"Just go man. I'll be able to focus better without distraction," Cloud told me, returning to his work. "But hey, glad you're not dead."
"Yeah, same to you," I returned, chuckling lightly and walking over to Shane, who was crouched between both his couches. "How are the girls doing?"
"Judging from their movements, I'd say they're not long from getting up," Shane explained, feeling the temperature on Applejack’s forehead before awkwardly shifting back. "This is… incredibly weird."
"I know. Finding out several of our mythological creatures actually exist on another planet is a lot to get used to," I said, shifting to his side. "That said, they're pretty accepting. And we don't really have a language barrier to get around, given they speak perfect English."
"Wait… can you repeat what you just said, but slower please? I swear you just said they speak English," Shane noted, giving me a sceptical look.
"Alright, short version; they can speak, and write, near perfect English," I explained, watching as Shane's jaw dropped. "Hey, at least it's convenient. Don't complain."
"We'll… discuss this later." Shane told me, turning over to Rainbow Dash as she began to wake up. "I think I'll leave this one for you."
"Yeah, I doubt anyone likes a stranger in their face while waking up," I said.
And within the few moments I turned away to allow Shane to get past, Rainbow was already guzzling down the entirety of the bottle of water Shane left for her. (Yeah… I honestly don't blame her.)
After she finished her drink, Rainbow Dash immediately noticed me.
"M-Marc?… What… happened?" she asked, her voice as coarse as stone, and probably as uncomfortable as well. I decided to simply give her a firm pat on her… shoulder? (Seriously guys, pony body parts are confusing.)
"We passed out. My friend found us and brought us here," I explained, standing up and grabbing another bottle of water for her. "The gist of it is we're safe now. Feel free to drink to your heart’s content."
"Thanks," Rainbow said, grabbing the bottle and drinking from it in moderation.
"Yeah. Hear that Shane?! She says thanks!" I shouted over to Shane, who merely responded with a brief wave.
"Marc… headache," Rainbow told me, holding her head in her hooves in agony.
"Right, my bad," I said, remembering the nightmare of a headache that came with recovering.
The next opportunity to talk came a few minutes later, after Rainbow finished the second bottle of water she was given.
"I… never want to experience that again," she declared, breathing frantically after her drink.
"Trust me, you're not the only one. Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep my balance carrying you two on sand? It was near impossible," I commented, getting a bottle thrown at me. "Hey, what was that for?"
"Marc, I'm being serious. We could've died!" Rainbow yelled, a distinct look of fear in her eyes. "You can't joke about stuff like that."
"Yeah… you're right. I was just trying to lighten the mood," I said, sitting against the sofa. "It's my fault. I was the one who let you come with me."
"You don't have to blame yourself, Marc. I chose to come along," Rainbow said, placing her hoof on me shoulder. "We're all in this together. Besides, things could be worse."
"Yeah, Cloud could've found a way to tag along," I joked, looking over to the computer. "Well… he kinda did, I think."
"Well, no point staying asleep all day," Rainbow declared, getting up off the sofa.
"Woah. You sure it's safe to be up this soon?" I checked, quickly turning to Rainbow in case she fell.
"Don't worry. This body can take it," Rainbow boasted, giving herself a confident hit to the chest. "I can take care of AJ, you just… take a break. Celestia knows you guys need it."
"Alright. Just… let me know when she's up. I'll introduce you to Shane afterwards," I told her, standing up and walking towards the door. I then took a seat on the ship’s entry ramp and took a look up at the stars.
I'm going to get a little… sentimental here, but my dad used to tell me something whenever I missed someone.
He always let me have my time to myself, I guess to settle down or just to wait until that one moment when I'd be alright to talk to. But then he always did the same thing; he'd come over to me, sit down and hand me a hot chocolate. That's when
the heart-to-heart started.
He'd let me spill my guts, vent and all that jazz. But no matter what happened, he always accepted my actions, even if it got him hurt in the progress. That’s when he'd say perhaps the most… cheesy line I'd ever known in my entire life.
"Just look up to the stars, mate," he'd say, firmly hugging me in his arm and looking up with me. [i"No matter where they are, or however far they may be, just look up. Almost everywhere shares the same night sky. And I bet, no, I know, that if your friend misses you, then they're likely doing the same thing."]
…
My reaction to that was constant. I'd sit there, just me and my dad, and stare at the sky until I ended up falling asleep. No matter the age, no matter the situation... I missed that.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep, relaxed breath, and grabbed the pendant Sam gave me from beneath my shirt. I once again held it above my head and stared into it, before taking yet another breath and clenching it firmly in my fist and holding it against my chest.
"Sam… I hope you're enjoying this peaceful night too," I said calmly, as I began I feel my eyes slowly close.
I'm unsure if I fell asleep at that moment, or if I sprang another five or so minutes staring at the sky, but that last line was the last thing I remember saying for the day. Next thing I knew, regardless of how long it took, I was asleep…
-0-0-0-0-0-
"Marc."
Out of nowhere, I appeared to be in some kind of throne room. There were several stained glass windows lining each side of the room, with a long corridor leading straight to a single throne at the end, with a oaken doorway on the other side of the room. A red carpet, torn in several places, was underfoot.
My head darted left to right, attempting to discover where the voice that called my name came from. I searched the room, yet I could find nothing.
"Marcus. Can you hear me?" the distinctly female, slightly posh voice once again called out, seeming to echo in my head. I continued to turn my head and visibly search the room, but nothing revealed itself.
"Hello? Is… someone there?" I asked, my voice echoing across the room a lot more than I expected. But this was only the beginning...
All of a sudden the entirety of the room began to shake and crumble. The glass windows began to crack and shatter, dust began to fall from the cracks in the brick walls, and some parts of the walls fell completely.
"Young Marcus, you must awaken, quickly! We are unsure how much longer we can retain this dream!" the voice returned, seeming panicked and concerned… but why? If it was a dream, I should be fine, right?
Right?
Everything stopped. The shaking ended, and everything fell silent… well, except for one plant pot that fell to the floor. After which, I finally managed to relax. Everything seemed fine.
Drip.
Wait. What was that?
Drip.
That seemed close. Is something nearby?
Drip…
The dripping stopped, but I could feel… something in the air. The gravity of which felt somewhat familiar, yet dreading.
Bloodlust.
I slowly began to turn around, looking once again at the throne, where I saw something I wish I never saw.
It was Shane, laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
"Shane!!" I yelled, wishing to run over to him within the milliseconds of seeing him.
…
But something stopped me. I couldn't move. I felt something firmly holding my shoulder. A black, corrupt-looking blade held firmly in their other hand.
…
Wait, hand?
"You needn't worry, my friend. You shall join him soon," a distinctly familiar, yet sinister voice calmly muttered in my ear, pressing their blade against my neck.
"Marc?"
"Forgive me for this, but it's what needs to be done."
"Marc! Wake the hell up!"
-0-0-0-0-0-
Within an instant, my eyes darted open as I awoke… and then immediately sealed closed again upon looking into the sun. I recoiled by raising my hand above my eyes and quickly sitting up.
Which was yet another mistake, as doing so caused me to headbutt Shane. This caused him to fall backwards, falling on his back. I would've been concerned, but he was in my face while I was waking up. He deserved it.
"Here's some advice Shane; while I'm sleeping, keep the fuck out of my face!" I shouted, flicking up the middle one at him.
"Alright… noted," he groaned, slowly getting back up. "I was just making sure you were alright. You were thrashing around and mumbling in your sleep."
"Oh, right," I mumbled.
"You feeling good? Did you have some weird nightmare or something?" Shane asked, holding out his hand to help me up.
"I'd… rather not talk about it," I told Shane, getting up and entering the ship alongside him. "Did Applejack end up getting up?"
"Take a look for yourself." He gestured, pointing towards both Rainbow and AJ, who were having a drink. "She woke up an hour ago. After which, I caught the both of them up to speed. Introduced myself and whatnot."
"Nice one," I declared, walking up to everyone. "Now that everyone's up, I think we should get going."
"Yeah… you think I could come with you?" Shane asked, taking a seat on one of his sofas. "I doubt how long I can endure the heat of the desert, and there's likely strength in numbers."
"I mean… sure? I could probably fit you in the ship," I said, scratching the back of my head while I tried to figure out how to fit him. "Bring your hammock though. That can act as your bed."
"What? You thought I'd leave without it?" Shane joked, walking over to the hammock and beginning to wrap it up. "This thing is the only thing I can sleep in."
"Alright… I'll leave Shane in charge of packing then," I said, easing slightly away from Shane. "That way, I won't be blamed for the packing."
"Yeah, good call," Rainbow agreed, sitting next to me on the sofa.
"Well, unlike somebody here, I understand the importance of keeping hydrated," Shane claimed, placing his wrapped hammock on the table, moving over to pick up some clothes.
"Remember to pack something to defend yourself," I suggested to Shane, gesturing to my own bag.
"And why would I need to do that?" Shane asked, turning around and looking over at me skeptically.
"This planet might seem peaceful, but you have no idea what kind of beasts live here," I told him. "For example, I got attacked by a 'literal' timberwolf after exiting my ship for the first time."
"as in an actual timberwolf, or a wolf made out of wood?" Shane asked, being responded by a simple nod by me, AJ and Rainbow. "How is that physically possible?"
"I don't really know myself, but they do come tresspassin' on mah' farm from time to time. They're mighty strong," Applejack explained.
"Noted; stay away from them," Shane said, resuming his packing.
"Actually… we have to hunt and kill them," I told Shane, getting an immediate cautious look from him. "What? I never said they were tough… unless there's more than a dozen or more of them."
"I'm… just going to drop it. I'm slightly busy anyway," Shane said, moving over to his weapon storage system and opening it, revealing… a near identical selection of weaponry as my own storage system. "Bloody Americans and their over-reliance on guns."
"Wait… aren't you American?" I asked.
"I swear to god, I'm Canadian! Jesus, why does everyone ask that?!" Shane yelled, getting an awkward look from the ponies. "You two… are really confused right now, aren't you?"
"No more than we already were," Applejack said, scratching the back of her mane awkwardly.
"Yeah… let's just get going. I'm about done anyway," Shane declared, hitting a secret button in his storage to reveal… a sledgehammer!
Emphasis on the sledge, the thing was massive! It was about as tall as Shane himself, and had several golden detailings along the stainless steel handle. The main hammer surface was coated in a silver substance, with golden detailing sticking out on the other side. The whole thing looked regal!
Upon grabbing the thing, seeming to use little to no effort to do so, he strapped it beside his backpack alongside a crossbow and quiver. He then closed his weapon storage and raised his fist.
"Alright. Let's get going, everyone!" Shane declared confidently, clearly taking the leader position without a second thought.
"I don't recall asking for you to to take over as leader, but okay," I said, working to follow him out. "Did you pack water?"
Shane stopped short of the door.
"Fuck."
"Thought so," I chuckled.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Okay. Traversing the desert; take two. This time, with water… and Shane… who's taken the lead of everything.
Speaking of Shane… I'm going to bring up that weird dream I had. It's really got me creeped.
Firstly… dang! I know death isn't the nicest thing to see, but the dream didn't have to be so fucking violent!
Oh, and who the hell was the voice? Whoever they were, presumably 'she', they saw what was going on as well. As such, I seriously doubt I'm the only one going through it… not that that's a good thing.
And finally, the big one; a human did it? Yeah, I probably should've answered that one first. But seriously, that voice was incredibly familiar.
"Marc?"
I know for a fact I've heard that voice before. It's… on the tip of my tongue.
"Hey, Marc, you listening?" Shane asked, slowing down to my pace to check on me.
"Eh? Oh, I'm fine. Just… thinking," I told him, kicking a small pile of sand.
"Look… I might not know you as well as I remember, but I know when something is up with you. You pick that up when you travel with a guy for a few months," Shane explained, grabbing my shoulder and stopping me. "Seriously man, what's wrong?"
I sighed. "Just some… dumb nightmare I had last night. I'd usually just ignore it, but it… got to me man."
"Are you guys alright?" Rainbow asked, having noticed we stopped.
"No need to worry, just checking or Marc!" Shane shouted ahead. "Look man, you're better than this. We survived the eternal earthen winter side-by-side. If you can make it through that, a mere nightmare is nothing!"
"Well… it's complicated," I told him, still not wanting to share what I saw with him. As such, I got to moving again. Shane caught up though.
"Hey, as long as you're good, we're good. Just… try and stay focused. You never know what could happen out here," Shane said, suddenly raising his hand against his face. "My god, where'd this sandstorm come from?"
"I don't know, but I don't actually think it's too bad. Just sand with a light breeze," Rainbow said, continuing forward.
"Alright, but I think we should stick together, just to be safe," Shane instructed, gathering the group together and making us continue on.
Suddenly, the entire area began to shake, almost setting everyone off balance. Shane merely stayed still, raised his arm, and remained calm.
"Something is coming," he declared, firmly grabbing the handle of his hammer in preparation. "On my signal, we scatter. Got it?"
"Right," I said, giving a brief thumbs up and clenching the handle of my own weapon.
The shaking started up again, but it felt slightly lighter this time… but got bigger…
"Wait for it…"
And closer… I could feel it.
"On my signal…"
I could feel it as far as my feet... I looked down, seeing the sand begin to hollow out below us, similar to emptying out of an hourglass. Something was below us.
Shane lowered his hand, lowered his knees and gave me a brief nod. He then held a large breath.
"Now!!" he yelled, the four of us moving from our position, being immediately followed by some… giant worm-thing?
Yeah, it looked like a worm, I think. Its entire body was a clear white, layered with a brown-ish colour every other layer of the body. Its head was significantly larger than its body, looking as though they split apart to become bigger than the actual body. Its eyes, pure red and in large numbers, gave us a sinister look. It then dove back into the sand, causing the shaking to return.
"Get moving! Two groups of two! One human, one pony!" Shane instructed, splitting the group into me and AJ, while Shane and Rainbow Dash ran another way
(Hell yeah!! Fight segment!!)
"What the hell is that thing?!" I asked, running alongside AJ and away from the worm… which chose to chase us specifically.
"I don't know, but I think Granny told me about something like this! Ah' think it's a sand wraith!" AJ yelled, a loud call coming from the beast as it chased. "Yep, definitely a Sand Wraith! You can tell by the call!"
"Fucking hell, why does everything on this planet want to kill us?!" I moaned.
The Sand Wraith then took yet another big leap into the air, jumping to where me and AJ would have been if we kept running. Luckily I stopped, pulled out my shotgun, and gave his underside a good blasting! Aha!
…
Yeah, turns out it just pissed it off. It came back at us, speeding up. Only advantage we had, if you can call it that, was there was a slight red trail coming from its direction.
"Well, at least this thing isn’t immune to guns!" I said, stopping, placing my gun back and drawing my sword. "Now I know this'll work!"
"Marc, what are you doing?!" Applejack asked, wondering why I'd stopped. In response, I settled for Shane's go-to of simply raising my thumb.
"If I can cut it, then I've got it from here!" I declared, waiting until the Sand Wraith resurfaced once again… So I could go on the attack!
I firmly gripped my sword, spread my legs apart and… and waited for the ideal moment. The sand wraith slowly approached, gradually speeding up. I smirked, awaiting the moment it surfaced.
And it did. Now I could strike.
As the beast boosted towards me, I ran towards it. Before it had the chance to defend or retreat, I gave it a swift blow to what seemed to be its jaw. I was about to go for a blow to the main body afterwards, but it recoiled with its tail, sending me backwards.
I was glad the tail wasn't dead spiky or something, otherwise I'd probably be heavily injured right about now. Rather than simply being hit down to the sand.
And great, the sand wraith was coming back for round two… or so I thought. Instead, it merely absorbed some of the nearby sand and poked its head out if the sand, staring over at me.
Which… is when I learned my place. The thing somehow knew hyper beam! And if I didn't move, I feared the move would be a critical hit. I'll be honest, not the best time to be dazed.
"God dammit!" Shane yelled, jumping in the way of the blast, spreading his arms out in an effort to protect me. This would mean he would take the full force of the blow.
The Sand wraith began to rotate its mouth, its stained, yellow teeth on full display. A core of yellow energy began to form from within its jaw, forming the beam of mass destruction. I thought, for the second day on the trot, I was boned.
But that when something… weird happened. As if by magic (haha, see what I did there?), some kind of green, layered shield appeared around me and Shane, seeming to stem from the palms of Shane's hands. Not only did this deflect the blast from the Sand wraith, it sent a portion of it back towards it, stunning the thing!
The shield then disappeared, and Shane lowered his hands and took a deep, calm breath.
"You need to think logically about this, Marc," Shane said, sounding somewhat exhausted. "You can run up to it, hack and slash it or whatnot. But wouldn't it be more effective to analyse it, while we still can?"
Taking Shane's advice, I got back in my feet and quickly scanned the beast, trying to see what advantages it had.
Okay. From first glance, I could tell it was using something to cover up its injuries. At a second inspection, I could tell it was sandstone… smart.
I then noticed something else from staring at the thing; it was spewing out airborne sand from its joints. In theory, this could be the source of the sandstorm.
"Okay, I think I've got it," I told Shane, firmly nodding. "The more we wound that thing, the more sand comes out of it and the worse the sandstorm gets."
"So, we somehow need to injure it without puncturing it's skin. Got it," Shane noted, the two of us joining the girls. "Just one question; how do we do that?"
I had to think about that one for a quick minute. Most of the weapons we had were made to injure, so that left me fairly useless in this situation. Shane's hammer however…
"I hate to repeat the whole 'hit it harder' logic of fighting, but what if we got it hard enough with that hammer?"
"Hmm… at worst, we make it madder. Best possibility, we break its neck," Shane noted, then looked down to the ground. "I don't think the sand'll help in terms of overall striking power though."
"I think Applejack can help with that! She has near unnatural strength!" Rainbow explained, looking over at her friend. "I know it sounds weird, but do you think she can kick you over there?"
"Look, I don't care about the method or its risks… or even how weird it is. If it works, then I'll give it a shot," Shane explained, looking over at AJ and nodding, getting a nod in return. "Marc, Rainbow, you two distract that thing and get it above ground. When I give the signal, move away and get ready for a hell of an entrance!"
"I think we can handle that. You up for it Rainbow?" I asked, just to be sure I wasn't forcing Rainbow into anything.
"This sandstorm is preventing me from flying and I can't see more than five metres ahead of me, but I'm up for it!" Rainbow declared, giving a swift salute, which was met with a nod as my response.
The Sand Wraith began to approach us again, seeming to move faster than it did before. But with a plan behind us and a truckload of confidence, I was fully confident we'd be fine.
Me and Rainbow charged towards the sand Wraith. Despite her lack of mobility and inability to fly, Rainbow still seemed to have quite a spring in her step. So despite the Sand Wraith setting off yet another hyper beam, we were easily able to dodge it.
And as all the Pokémon fans know, after hyper beam has been used… the user becomes immobile. In short, Shane's signal was…
"Now!!" Shane yelled. Me and Rainbow moved out of the way for Shane and AJ's pseudo human cannonball.
Which was quite the accurate description. Shane jumped into the air, being kicked by Applejack and sent flying towards the Sand Wraith, a cocky smile having filled his face, and his hammer held firmly in his hands. Within moments, he landed directly in front of the Wraith, and with the added momentum of Applejack’s kick, he hit the thing and sent it flying a good ten metres away. As he did so, you could hear a distinct snapping noise coming from the wraith. It sounded horrifying, yet relieving.
The Sand Wraith was dead, and nobody got injured in the progress.
Annd… breathe…
Almost as if it was on cue, the four of us all fell to the ground simultaneously, frantically regaining our breath. This was also mixed in with a little bit of chuckling.
"We did it… my god we did it!!" Shane yelled, raising his arms to the air in celebration, his laughing gradually getting louder.
"Agreed! That was a good call, Rainbow!" I said, giving her a slight bash to the shoulder.
"You should really thank AJ and Shane. They're the ones who beat the thing," Rainbow answered, looking toward AJ, who was making her way over to us.
"Truth be told, we all beat that Sand Wraith. If it wasn't for you two distractin' it, we would've had no way to get it," she claimed, getting within a few feet of us and sitting down.
"Are… are we seriously arguing who takes the credit right now?" I asked.
"Okay, I think we should all just wait for the adrenaline rush to wear off," Shane suggested, throwing a bottle of water to each of us. "Remember; hydration is key."
"Seriously man, of all the times?" I scoffed, sitting up and taking a drink regardless. "Soo… is that it?"
"Well, we still need a way out of the desert. That'd be a good idea," Rainbow suggested, taking a look up to the sky. "It might be easier with the sandstorm over."
"Easier? Try effortless!" I said, looking and pointing over to my left. "The desert ends right there!"
"Wow… that's convenient," Shane said, getting back on his feet. "I guess now the sandstorm is gone, we can see better. As such, we may as well keep moving. There's no use in hesitating."
"Alright, let's go then. We ain't far from home now," Applejack told us, getting up and also leaving the desert.
"Well… today turned out to be eventful," I moaned, getting myself up. "I know one thing’s for sure."
"What's that?" Rainbow asked.
"I fucking hate deserts!"
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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9036003
Finally! Someone who's seen red vs blue! Being honest, the info about AI is ripped straight from there, given it's one of my favourite series.
The fight scene was actually quite easy to figure out, and is one of my favorite memories of writing the early chapters. I wanted something similar to RWBY, but not to the point where the fights are waaay too easy.
Oh, and the fourth wall breaking settles down in the later chapters. This bit was simply because of a rush I had when I finished the chapter. Tampering with it feels wrong for that reason.
9036029
Yeah, don't worry, mark ain't OP. There may come a point where he grows stronger, or manages to figure more out about this 'new skill' he's got, but not these early chapters.
Thanks for the ship idea. I'm currently writing chapter 7, and that'd work well as a point of discussion.
For some unknown reason, I imagined Rick, from Rick and Morty shouting this.