Linkin Pony - Recharge: Revamped

by Kaciekk

Chapter 21

Quickly, CharmingRhythm and SpinningNote retraced their steps down the ramp and into the Hybrid camp. Rhythm glanced upward and saw where his Pegasus friends were circling. They were exchanging shots with the Hybrids below. Rhythm followed Spinning back into the shed they had found ThunderCharm in. Spinning peered out of a hole in the wall, planning their next move.

"I'm afraid we might have to fight some Hybrids," Spinning fret. "Unless we can run past them."

Rhythm found a crack to eye out of. "There's that barn. I checked there already but I could have overlooked something. It was dark. I guess I could try again."

The Unicorns creeped out and followed along a wooden fence. Rhythm's horn glowed briefly as he casted another spell. In the dark shadows of the gorge, his horn was more luminous than ever. The flash of light alerted a Hybrid, which began to chase them.

"Fuck!" Rhythm let out, jolting his head back.

"Go inside," Spinning insisted. "I'll keep this guy busy."

As Rhythm darted inside, Spinning held his ground against the Hybrid. It swung it's claw forward, which bashed against Spinning's shoulder pad. He jumped to the right, and fired blue energy into the side of the Hybrid. The claw flew again, which caught the skin above Spinning's EPD. He disregarded the bleeding and kept fighting.

Inside, Rhythm analyzed the barn for a second. His horn shone in the dark space. I don't see any Hybrids, he realized. He saw movement in a corner of the barn. It was a pony working machinery, only visible by his red mane. Rhythm pressed forward and got to the pony's side. It was the Pegasus ThunderCharm had described. He started ushering the young Pegasus towards the exit.

Just then, there was a creaking sound. Stretching his neck, Rhythm peered up behind him. A pair of red eyes glowed in the darkness. A Hybrid showed itself on the loft of the barn. It began firing down blasts at Rhythm. He levitated a crate up and slammed it against the enemy.

It was distracted, but so was Rhythm. Something small scuttle along the ground from where the crate was. It made its way to Rhythm, perched itself, and started beeping. Rhythm started down in shock. A bugmine! Rhythm made a break for it, bumping into the grey Pegasus. The bugmine exploded, sending shrapnel into Rhythm's back legs. He ignored the pain and ignored the Hybrid from the loft. The doors flung open and he forcibly shouldered the Pegasus outside.

Spinning was still fighting the Hybrid in the clearing. Running around like mad, he attempted to lose his enemy. It appeared tired, almost ready to give up. Periwinkle magic raised a crate up and dropped it on the Hybrid. The force was enough to knock the cyborg out.

"Spinning! Don't lift the fucking crates up! They have bugmines!" Rhythm snapped.

Whipping his head around, Spinning caught sight of the mobile mine crawling towards him. He levitated it up and threw it toward the gorge wall, where it exploded. Rhythm shielded his eyes with his right foreleg. He glared at Spinning who mouthed 'sorry.'

The pair escorted the Pegasus between them through the Hybrid camp. They made their way west to another shed. Luckily the Hybrids in front of them were too busy dealing with their Pegasus allies. In the shed they found the Unicorn mare.

Spinning pushed her outside and Rhythm directed the Pegasus stallion.

Two Hybrids blocked their path to the east.

"Where did they come from?!" Spinning shouted.

"This way!" Rhythm spat, dashing in the other direction. He used his magic to push the refugees along.

"But that's the way out!" Spinning pointed to the ramp. The Hybrids were gaining on him, he had no other choice but to follow.

Spinning slammed a fence gate behind them, attempting to slow the pursuers down. The Unicorn duo was already slow enough while moving their prisoners. They used as much of their magical effort as they could to keep the young ponies moving while also keeping up the pace with their hooves.

Rhythm could hear the clunk, clunk of metal as they passed the oil pump. It loomed large, almost as high as the gorge wall. They were nearing the west edge of the camp, dodging Hybrids left and right. There was another sound that Rhythm heard. Crack. Up to the right, he saw cracks were beginning to form at the top of the stone wall. The earth was beginning to crumble.

"Fuck! It's collapsing early!" Rhythm blurted out, his heart hammering.

"Guys! Help us get these two out!" Rhythm amplified his voice to the Pegasi.

HyperBlitz and FeatherTune swooped downward. They hovered above the ground while pushing the two refugees along. They kept to the left side of the gorge, away from the collapsing wall. Spinning and Rhythm attempted to fight off Hybrids that tried to snatch the escaping prisoners.

Spinning galloped forward, Rhythm right behind him. Suddenly, a heavy Hybrid bashed into Rhythm's side. As he hit the dirt, he felt the wind blow out of him. The crash had made him weak and he couldn't stand just yet. He picked up a barrel in his magic and threw it against the Hybrid that attacked him.

Once further downriver, Hyper and Feather paused to breathe. Hyper twirled around in the air, and glanced backwards. The side of the gorge was crumbling. More of the earth was loosened than was expected, farther from the camp then they intended. For a split second, Hyper caught a glimpse of Rhythm lying on the floor, attempting to get to his hooves. The next second, boulders came toppling down.

"RHYTHM!" Hyper screeched.

He zoomed back upriver. His throat closed up from fear. The gorge was still crumbling. Hyper hovered, anxiously waiting for the sound of falling rocks to stop. As soon as he saw an opening, Hyper bounded forward. Eyes darting left and right, he sought out his fallen friend.

He could make out the back half of Rhythm behind a large boulder. With crippling fear, Hyper gaited over. When he shifted his angle, he could see the rest of Rhythm. His right foreleg was caught under the rock. Relief flooded through Hyper's body. For a moment, he was still worrisome about Rhythm's leg, but quickly remembered it wasn't real.

A Hybrid who had not been crushed was hunting down Rhythm. "Get away from him!" Hyper spat and began to fire energy. The cyborg finally collapsed once enough damage was done. Hyper made his way to Rhythm's side. The blue Unicorn began moving again.

"Rhythm! You're okay!" Hyper called out, his voice cracking.

"I'm... hnn... stuck!" Rhythm huffed.

His free hooves scrambled against the ground as he attempted to dislodge his foreleg. Hyper wrapped his forelegs around Rhythm's torso. His wings fluttered as he tried to haul him backwards.

"Stop pulling!" Rhythm shouted. "Get the rock off of me!"

Hyper let go and bounced over behind the rock. He began pushing with his front hooves.

"I could use some help!" Hyper yelled.

Feather and Spinning arrived at the scene. Both of them followed Hyper's instructions. Spinning was exhausted from running, and Feather was not very strong, but their combined strength was enough to shift the boulder. As it rolled over, Rhythm snatched his foreleg out from under it. He stood up, but lacking balance, he toppled over again. The stallions stopped pushing, and the boulder fell back in place with a loud thud.

Hyper helped Rhythm get his footing. He only had three hooves to work with, and was disoriented from the chaos. He raised his prosthetic up and examined it. It was completely crushed, it's crystal cracked, and wires poked out.

"Yep, that's broken," Rhythm exhaled.

"How do we get back up there?" Spinning wondered with his vision glued to the sky.

"Maybe you could climb the rocks?" Hyper suggested.

"Do I look like I can climb?" Rhythm retorted, flailing his foreleg.

"And I doubt these two can climb," Spinning directed at the refugees. "Maybe after I get their chips out." He cantered over to the brainwashed ponies.

HyperBlitz turned and saw the destruction. It would be impossible to maneuver through it on hoof. Rocks piled over the Hybrid camp. Several of the makeshift buildings had collapsed, but the oil pump still stood tall. It was very possible that there were still remnants of the camp and Hybrids, but that was a deal for a different day.

Hyper once again wrapped his forelegs around Rhythm's torso. He squawked in surprise as Hyper lifted him up. They steadily floated up to the top of the gorge. There, Hyper let Rhythm go, and sat down for himself, chest heaving. Rhythm had been a lot more difficult to carry than he imagined.

"You seriously had to do that?!" Rhythm questioned as he lay on the ground.

"It was the only idea I had!" Hyper justified through his breaths.

They waited a few minutes for the refugees to respond after their chips were taken out. The Pegasus had just enough strength to fly up to the other ponies. The Unicorn however, was still weak, and could not climb well. As Spinning carefully scaled up the scattered rocks, Hyper lifted up the yellow mare just as he did with Rhythm. Spinning was able to telekinetically lift up the Unicorn the second half up, to give Hyper a chance to breathe.

The dark grey Pegasus shot glances between the many ponies in front of him. His purple eyes were still trying to make sense of what he was seeing. "The Resistance?" He growled.

"Yeah, we saved you from the Hybrids!" Blazing claimed.

The rainbow maned Unicorn trotted towards the Pegasus and also stared at their saviors. "You... saved us? You mean we would have been Hybrids?!"

"Most likely, yeah," Spinning said solemnly.

"Blackout! Iridescent!" ThunderCharm called out as she raced to the other ponies.

"Thunder? You're okay?" The grey Pegasus, presumably Blackout, said.

"Yeah. These ponies saved us. They even went back down in the camp to get you guys after they got me!" Thunder exclaimed.

"Thank you so much," the Unicorn, Iridescent, spoke to the team graciously. "We owe you our lives."

"We don't own them anything!" Blackout spat.

"I mean, technically, no," Rhythm added as he limped towards the group. "It's our job to save ponies from Hybrids. But you could be a little more grateful."

"I'd rather be a Hybrid than be saved by the Resistance!" Blackout refuted.

"Blackout! You don't mean that! I'm so sorry," Iridescent addressed the others. "Don't listen to him. We're very grateful for what you've done for us."

"I'm guessing you're a rogue?" Feather mused, his eyes on Blackout. "You don't seem to like us."

"We don't like to be called rogues, you idiot!" Blackout shot back. "We prefer outlanders."

"Huh? I've never heard that before," Feather let out, confused.

"I have," Hyper spoke up. "I remembered the different names rogues called each other when I was one. It depends where they come from. Of course they don't call themselves rogues, that has negative connotations."

"Are you a rogue- er outlander, too?" Rhythm questioned Iridescent.

She nodded, "Yes. Blackout is my brother. We grew up in a gang together. Although I don't hate the Resistance quite as much as him."

Team Xero exchanged perplexed glances when Iridescent told them Blackout was her brother. The two of them looked nothing alike!

"And how about you," Rhythm finally got around to ThunderCharm.

"I think I'm what you call a fairlander. I don't side with outlanders or the Resistance," She explained. "But I will say I greatly appreciate what you did for us today. We really do owe you."

"I thought they said they were friends," Blazing whispered to Echo. "But they're from different groups of ponies?" Echo only shrugged.

"Alright, let's all get back to camp. We can sort everything else there," Rhythm announced.

Taking notice of Rhythm's limp, Spinning insisted that he drove the second cab back. The young ponies they saved rode with him while Rhythm and Echo rode with Blazing. Rhythm watched the others parallel to him. Blackout flashed him a resentful glare. He didn't understand how anyone could hate ponies that much, especially after being saved!