Linkin Pony - Recharge: Revamped

by Kaciekk

Chapter 49

Two days later, team Xero held a meeting. CharmingRhythm felt a sense of completeness seeing all of his friends’ faces in one room.

“Alright, we’re all reporting progress on the camp,” Rhythm began. “I know it’s not completely done; there’s still many apartments that need furniture.”

“So what?” SpinningNote said. “I think it’s time we get our camp reviewed!”

“Honestly I think it’s passed due for review,” EchoBeat agreed.

“You sure?” Rhythm hesitated.

“I mean, how many camps have you seen where they weren’t working on something or another,” BlazingFlair pointed out.

“I guess that’s a good point,” Rhythm considered.

“I think there’s enough good sleeping spaces that we can qualify for completion.” Spinning commented.

“There’s still things I’d like to work out,” Rhythm said. “Like I said, we still need more furniture. I’d also like to get more energy sources. I don’t want to completely rely on the mill. We’ve got some solar panels on the base, but I’d like to get more for the apartments.”

“What about some windmills?” HyperBlitz suggested from the opposite side of the table.

“That’s a good idea,” Rhythm stated. With the wind blowing in from the ocean, windmills would provide good use.

“Yeah, but how are we supposed to get windmills here?” FeatherTune asked, implying just how big they were.”

Rhythm tapped a hoof on his chin. “We’d have to get a train. Maybe I could-”

Rhythm’s words were cut off as he heard the door to the main room open. He gazed to the other end of the room, passed HyperBlitz. Hyper turned around to look at the tan Pegasus standing there.

“Jet?” Rhythm let out.

“Dude, we’re in the middle of the meeting,” Spinning deterred.

“I’m sorry, but we kinda got an emergency,” Jet alerted.

“What?” Rhythm got off his stool and began walking around the table. He stared at Jet, concerned.

“There’s like… a bunch of Hybrids coming our way. You better get out here. And bring your weapons!” Jet explained briefly, then swiveled around, out the door.

Team Xero exchanged worried glances for a moment. Rhythm was already towards the door as the other got up to follow. He waited impatiently for all the others to retrieve their EPDs from their rooms. As Hyper reappeared, Rhythm dashed outside, not willing to wait anymore.

“Rhythm, wait!” Hyper called.

Stopping in place, Rhythm glared back at Hyper, a bit irritated.

“I think you’re going to need this,” Hyper said. Rhythm’s armored vest was hanging by Hyper’s foreleg.

“Oh. Yeah,” Rhythm replied sheepishly, taking the armor in his magic.

In the first street nearest to the base, there was a gathering of ponies. They all gazed off to the north with apprehension. A few Pegasi stood on the roofs behind them. Rhythm joined them, and peered out between buildings to the horizon. He could barely see anything.

Ash next to him passed over a pair of binoculars. Rhythm took them in his magic, not even stopping to question where she had gotten them. With better vision, Rhythm could see a hoard of metal armored Hybrids marching their way towards them. When Jet had mentioned “a bunch of Hybrids”, he didn’t think he meant this many.

Rhythm threw the binoculars down and searched for something tall to stand one. He found a stack of cinder blocks and chose them. Standing above the crowd, he used his sound magic to amplify his voice. He wasn’t sure if all the ponies in camp were here, but there was no time to lose

“Everyone, we’ve got a brigade of Hybrids coming our way. They’ve seemed to have found where we are based, and are attacking us for destroying their camp. I ask all of you to help fight these Hybrids off. We’ll need as many ponies as we can get.”

Rhythm only hoped the gathering of ponies in camp was enough to fend off this army.

“We’re fighting for all of the work we’ve done, and for the home of many of us!”

The crowd began to scatter across camp, surely looking for weapons to use. Rhythm leapt down and met up with his team.

“You sure we can fight these guys?” HyperBlitz asked from the air. “Maybe we can get support from Los Pegasus.”

“I don’t want to risk one fighter to be absent for so long to get support. We need every pony here,” Rhythm assured.

“We don’t have to send anyone,” Spinning reminded. “I can send a message to Headquarters.”

“Then do that,” Rhythm ordered with a nod. Spinning ran back to the base.

“I told you there was something up with those Hybrids!” Feather snapped at Rhythm. “We should have been watching out for them earlier!”

“Well, it’s too late for that now. All we can do now is fight them off,” Rhythm retorted. He felt guilty for not taking Feather’s advice a bit more seriously, but he didn’t let that show.

Rhythm turned to see ponies gathering again in the center path in front of the base. AgileArrow and CherryBomb stood together with their EPDs. I’ve never seen Cherry fight, Rhythm thought. Next to them, ForestWind fluttered down, chest and shoulders armored. BlizzardBlast joined them. They donned a self-made EPD on their hoof.

To the right of them, ThunderCharm stood, her hoof held up.

“I know I’m not fully trained, and I said I wasn’t interested in fighting… but I want to help defend my home!” Thunder declared. Rhythm nodded and smiled at her with approval.

Iridescent stepped up, but had no weapon. “I know a few tricks,” she stated, her horn beginning to glow.

Blackout hovered next to his sister. He carried a shovel in his hooves, surely intent on using it as a weapon. He didn’t say anything, only a huff and a look of determination in his uncovered eye. Rhythm was glad to see the proud stallion had a change of heart. He was now willing to fight for the ponies around him, including the Resistance.

Both Berry and Terra approached Rhythm cautiously. The latter spoke up. “Um, what are we supposed to do? We don’t have any weapons…” The tone of Terra’s voice and the look in Berry’s eyes told Rhythm they weren’t willing to fight.

Rhythm’s eyes slid over to SunSwirl. “Do you have healing potions ready?”

“Plenty,” SunSwirl said.

“Are you willing to fight with us?” Rhythm requested.

“I’ll do whatever is necessary. I do have magic afterall.”

“Then give your potion supply to Berry and Terra and come fight the Hybrids with us.” Rhythm looked at the two Earth Ponies again. “You two stay here in camp, and tend to any wounded ponies that come back. Can you manage that?”

“I- I suppose,” Berry mumbled.

“We’ll do it,” Terra agreed more confidently.

Rhythm waited for any other pony to gather. Carpenter had joined them. Rhythm realized all who was missing was RoseTwist and LilyMist. That was probably for the best. Any child needed to be far away from a Hybrid attack.

Swirling around the face the north again, Rhythm called out. “Alright. Let’s go! We need to keep them away from camp as much as we can.”

He dashed between two apartments with his team by his side. Behind them, the group of ponies followed. The brigade of Hybrids were much more identifiable now. The ponies continued forward into the barren area just north of the camp. There’s at least double the amount of Hybrids as there are ponies, Rhythm feared. But we have to do something.

The Hybrids appeared to halt as the ponies met them in the middle of the field. A single Hybrid stepped out to the front of them. She was a mauve Unicorn with heavy padded shoulders. Her face was almost completely normal, except for a wire connected to her jawline that ran down her neck.

“You really thought you could get away with destroying our camp?” She announced out loud, obviously as a threat.

“It wasn’t us! It was the dragon!” FeatherTune called back before Rhythm could say anything.

“Do you really think a dragon would do that unprompted?” the mauve Hybrid countered. “We saw you ponies pass by before the dragon attacked us. Don’t play dumb.”

Well, shit, Rhythm thought. Their plan had not been foolproof.

For a moment, Rhythm recognized how sapient the Hybrids were. They were, afterall, ponies, at least at some point. They had stopped before diving into an attack. They even appeared to have a leader. She was talking with the ponies before doing anything. Hybrids, even as a hivemind, were intelligent. All of these facts made them seem like people. These thoughts attempted to challenge Rhythm’s morals. He knew the Hybrids were a threat. They’ve destroyed the ecosystem. They were using ponies for slave labor. They turned ponies into their own kind, wiping their minds of what made them unique. They killed any pony who got in their way of their plans.

Hybrids were irredeemable. They needed to be taken down despite how sapient they seemed. Rhythm knew he had to fight past the thought of them once being pony. He was part of the Resistance. It was his job to stop Hybrids.

“Just surrender, and we’ll make this easy,” The lead Hybrid addressed, snapping Rhythm out of his thoughts.

“No way,” Rhythm finally spoke up. “We’re not giving up without a fight!”

“So be it. Attack!”

Eyes darting from left to right, Rhythm analyzed the Hybrids advancing towards them. They needed to separate them so they could pick them off one by one. He remembered what his friend Serenity had told him. If we injure them enough they may retreat.

Rhythm stared at his teammates. “We need to ungroup them. Then we should use our combined efforts to tackle one at a time to put them down faster.”

“Separate and focus. Got it,” Hyper acknowledged with a clap of his hooves.

Hyper swooped down, above the Hybrids, and blasted energy at them randomly. Feather and ForestWind followed him. They all circled around the Hybrids, each taking their own shots. They were attempting to corral a smaller section of cyborgs away from the rest of the hoard.

A scrawny Hybrid stepped out and challenged Rhythm. Quickly, he angled his up and began firing at the Hybrid. A few shots of blue hit the foe in the eyes, blinding it temporarily. Rhythm saw a long beam of blue scorched the Hybrid’s side. It screamed and fell over. The blast had come from Aggie, who gave Rhythm a curt nod.

While looking behind his shoulder, Rhythm caught sight of a few Pegasi Hybrids fighting from the air. Blackout was challenging one of them. With a heavy swing, Blackout bashed his shovel into the cheek of a fly Hybrid. It lost balance and began tumbling downward. It straightened out its flight before it could even hit the ground. With broken teeth bared and an eye bleeding, the Hybrid flew after Blackout. But the dark Pegasus was ready with another wave of his shovel.

A sharp blade skimmed Rhythm’s left shoulder, and he was jolted back into the fight. He yelped at the Hybrid who attacked him and charged up an energy pulse in his. He swung his prosthetic around, slamming into the Hybrid’s muzzle. The blue energy exploded on impact.

“Glad I can’t feel anything in that one,” Rhythm mused out loud with a bit of triumph.

The Hybrid mumbled something in a low voice. He picked his head up, snarling at Rhythm with a broken, bleeding muzzle. “A bionic? You may as well already be one of us.”

“In your dreams!” Rhythm shouted at him and started pumping more energy at him.

Another source of blue energy was pelting the Hybrid, but Rhythm didn’t dare take his eyes off his enemy this time.

Away, to the east of Rhythm, the Pegasi had sectioned off a group of Hybrids. They, alongside Spinning and Blazing, were trying to pick some off. Blazing was battling one, throwing flame energy over the cyborg. It’s mane and tail burned, but when that had gone out, the flames didn’t damage the metal armor below.

“Why the fuck do I have fire energy if it doesn’t even do anything!” Blazing howled in annoyance.

“Blazing, behind you!” Feather had called to him from the sky.

After a small peek, Blazing readied for the approaching Hybrid. He raised his back legs and bucked the Hybrid in the chin. Spinning, behind them, was firing energy shots at it.

Hyper had risen high into the sky. He began to descend quickly. He aimed to divebomb the Hybrid that Blazing had burned. The close proximity of the battle had made Hyper fail to realize how close the scorched Hybrid was next to Blazing. Hyper collided with the foe, sending it flying, but it crashed into Blazing’s back. The collision caused Blazing to tumble over a few times. Once he sat still on his side, Blazing peered up, dazed.

“Oh fuck! I am so, so sorry Blazing!” Hyper cried.

“It’s okay,” Blazing let out, regaining his composure. His backs throbbed from the impact, but it didn’t stop him from getting back to his hooves.

“Cherry’s hurt!” AgileArrow yelled above the battle.

Blazing glanced to the left, where he saw Aggie standing over her girlfriend. Cherry had a long gash along her side. It didn’t look deep, but it bled profusely. The blood was barely recognizable on her dark red fur.

“Get her back to camp- wait,” Rhythm commanded. “Aggie, stay here, we need you. Have a Pegasus help her back to camp. They can get back into the fight faster.”

“I’ll help!” That was BlizzardBlast’s voice. They swooped down towards the Earth Pony mare and helped her stand up.

Several energy shots hit Blazing’s flank. He turned to see a heavy Hybrid firing at him. He blasted fire in its face to block it’s vision. Blue magic glowed around the Hybrid’s fat, metal hooves. For a split second, it was lifted up, then knocked over to its side with a mighty thump. For a moment, Blazing thought it was Rhythm’s magic, but he noticed SunSwirl to his side, her horn blaring with magic that soon faded.

Blazing felt something scuttling around his hooves. Beep. Beep. He stared down in horror as he saw a bugmine perch. As hard as he could, he kicked the mine into the Hybrid hoard. It exploded again a Hybrid’s face. The cyborg was distorted for a moment, but then continued forward. If there’s one bugmine…

Quickly, Blazing glanced around at all his friends. He spotted a mine crawling towards Rhythm’s blue hooves.

“Rhythm! Look down!”

The Unicorn did as he said. His eyes widened in alarm, and quickly, Rhythm telekinetically lifted the bugmine up. He propelled it back towards where it came from, where it exploded over the Hybrids’ heads.

“Why the fuck are there bugmines here?!” Rhythm exclaimed.

Before Blazing could respond, another Hybrid approached him. This one, a greyish-green Pegasus, was a claw-type. Its claw snatched onto Blazing’s left foreleg, his armor protecting his flesh from it’s penetrating grip. Tugging his back, Blazing struggled to break free. He tried to rear up to use his fire energy, but he lost his balance and landed back on three hooves.

The Pegasus fluttered its tattered wings. It began to raise up, dragging Blazing with it. Before he knew it, Blazing was dangling by the Hybrid’s grasp, his back hooves just barely touching the ground.

“Let me go!” Blazing yelped.

At the edge of his vision he could see purple and blue movement. SpinningNote quickly dived under the Pegasus Hybrid’s belly. With force, his periwinkle magic jabbed something into the Hybrid’s unprotected underside. It must have pierced deep, because the Hybrid lost its grip on Blazing, and fell to the ground with a thud. Spinning pulled his weapon out of the dead cyborg, blood trailing behind. It was a different Hybrid’s blade, severed from the body. Blazing just looked at Spinning with bewilderment.

“You’re welcome,” Spinning stated dryly, unprompted.

Blazing saw Spinning’s eyes widen. The orange Earth Pony twisted his head around. He could see Rhythm struggling with the Hybrid who had spoken to them before the fight. She had her claw wrapped around his neck, pulling his head backwards. Another Hybrid stood behind her, it’s horn glowing. From this distance, Blazing couldn’t see what the magic correlated to, but knew what it was. After a jolt, Rhythm stopped struggling. He stumbled at his hooves. The Hybrids began escorting him towards their side of the fight.

“Fuck! Rhythm’s chipping!” Spinning shouted before Blazing could even say anything.

“What?” The voice of HyperBlitz screeched somewhere behind the two stallions.

“Hyper! Get those Hybrids off him, and I’ll try to get his chip out!” Spinning commanded.

Blazing felt a rush of wind as Hyper swooped over him. He began prying the lead Hybrid away from his friend. Spinning used his magic to guide Rhythm back.

“Try to create space!” Spinning alerted to Blazing, and to anyone else who would listen.

“Got it!” Blazing said.

As the two Unicorns stood behind him, he started throwing down fire in a semicircle around them. FeatherTune was using his electricity to stun Hybrids, to temporarily stop their advancement. To Blazing’s right, ThunderCharm was firing shots at any approaching Hybrids. He felt a surge of pride for the young recruit.

There was a yell to the left. Blazing saw EchoBeat and Carpenter being surrounded by a group of enemies. Their only exit out was blocked by a row of cacti.

“You go help them,” Feather told Blazing. “I’ll keep stunning these guys.”

“Right.”

Dashing between fights, Blazing went to aid the other Earth Ponies. Just as he arrived, he saw a heavy Hybrid pushing Echo back. He was raised up to his back hooves, then shoved into the wall of cacti. Blazing winced as he crashed into the prickly plants. Putting his head down low, Blazing charged into the Hybrid, knocking it over. Carpenter then began shooting at it.

Blazing raced to Echo’s side. He was a bit shaky as he stood up. There were cactus spines cluttered across his back.

“Are you okay?” Blazing asked with concern.

“Yeah, just… pricked,” Echo grimaced. As Blazing attempted to pull out a few spines with his teeth, Echo protested. “Don’t try to pull them all out now! We don’t have time.”

He’s right. Diverting his attention back to the fight, Blazing began throwing fireballs back at the oncoming enemies, all while Echo shot energy of his own.

“I wish we could push these guys back, but they’re too heavy,” Echo muttered, frustrated.

“I’ve got an idea!” Blazing blurted out. “But… I need to wait until Rhythm’s back.” He glanced back where Spinning had taken him. Rhythm seemed to be shaking his head, recovering.

“I’ll be right back!” Blazing announced, and began running towards the direction of camp.

“Where the hell are you going?!” Echo called back but kept his position.

“Are you good?” SpinningNote was asking Rhythm as he was regaining consciousness.

“I...I think.” Rhythm blinked a few more times, his vision still a little hazy. His neck stung where the chip had been implanted. As his hearing became more alert, he became more aware of how overwhelming the commotion of the battle was. He pushed his ears back, attempting to block out any noises.

“Is he back?” Feather questioned anxiously, hovering just ahead.

“Yeah,” Rhythm called back.

Raising his leg to fire again, Rhythm realized how close the hoard of Hybrids had pushed up to his fighters.

“Everyone, fall back!” He commanded with an amplified voice.

They began moving backwards to create more space between the two sides. The Hybrids were still crawling closer. All the ponies were fighting back with energy, fire, and weapons.

“If we fall any further back, we’ll end up reaching camp!” Spinning chided.

“If we don’t fall back, we’ll get run over!” Rhythm argued.

We still have space, Rhythm thought as he glanced back towards the first row of buildings in the camp. But Spinning was right. While they had some space to spare, if they kept going, they’d end up in camp. I can’t risk the Hybrids destroying the camp. Perhaps they’d do that as revenge for their own camp?

One of the hybrids which Feather had stunned fell to the ground. Several ponies fired blue energy at it, focusing it. It didn’t get up.

“Keep it up!” Rhythm announced. “Don’t spread out our attacks. Focus them down one by one!”

Feather struck another Hybrid, this one with heavy armor, but it didn’t falter. From guns held on its shoulders, it began firing at the closest pony, which happened to be Iridescent. She shot a laser of light back at it, but that too didn’t slow it.

“Ooookay… Maybe pick off the weakest ones first?” Rhythm suggested out loud.

There’s too many of them, and we’re getting injured, he feared internally.

Iridescent had several shot wounds burned into her fur. EchoBeat struggled through the sting of cactus spines. Hyper had a gash on his side belly. ForestWind’s left foreleg was bleeding in a large, circular area. Rhythm remembered the wound CherryBomb obtained. They were already down one fighter, how much longer until the rest fell?

Behind him, Rhythm heard rumbling, and the sound of wheels on gravel. In the corner of his eye, he saw a large white shape racing through the crowd. Blazing was driving their cab right towards the Hybrids. He crashed into the heavy Hybrid they had been struggling with just earlier. Its armored body flung into the hoard, and collapsed a couple other Hybrids with it.

Above, HyperBlitz cheered ecstatically. “Ha, yes! Fuck yeah, Blazing!”

Rhythm tried to stifle a laugh of his own, just from seeing Hyper’s reaction. He called out to Blazing. “If you get Hybrid blood on it, you’re cleaning it!”

Blazing drove in reverse, until he passed the line of fighting ponies. He stopped near his team. When Rhythm met up with him, he was scavenging for something in the back seat. He turned around and threw something in Rhythm's way. Rhythm caught it in his magic. A single stick of dynamite.

“There were a couple left,” Blazing remarked.

“And what are we supposed to do with them?” Rhythm stared at him, baffled.

“Maybe use them on the Hybrids?” Blazing suggested with a grin and a shrug.

“But, you know how dangerous that could be, right? Like, the explosion can be pretty big.”

“That’s why you gotta throw it really hard,” Blazing said. He held his hoof bottom-up. A single flame flickered from his EPD.

“You’re insane,” Rhythm chuckled with a shake of the head.

“Spinning!” Rhythm then called out. “We need a shield, as big as you can get. I don’t care if Hybrids get in it, just shield all of us ponies.”

Spinning poked his head up from behind a couple ponies. “Uh, which way? Both ways?”

“Let things out. Stop things from coming in,” Rhythm clarified.

“Got it,” Spinning agreed. He lifted his horn up and a wall of magic began to grow around them to form a shield.

Rhythm held the dynamite in his magic up to Blazing. Using his EPD, Blazing lit the stick’s fuse. Rhythm’s horn glowed even brighter as he exerted as much force as he could, and hurtled the dynamite out of the shield, and into the hoard of Hybrids.

As the dynamite exploded, there were screams of terror from the Hybrids. SpinningNote released the shield. HyperBlitz flew downward until he fluttered next to Rhythm and Blazing.

“Holy shit! Was that a fucking explosion?”

“It was Blazing’s idea,” Rhythm said, pointing to the orange stallion.

Still fluttering, Hyper grabbed Blazing shoulders by his hooves and began to shake him. “Blazing you’re fucking amazing!” Blazing only giggled in response as he was shook.

Rhythm’s own smile was wiped off his face as he saw some of the Hybrids rising to their hooves. “That took out a few of them, but it looks like they’re still kickin’.”

“Metal bastards,” Hyper growled under his breath, yet still loud enough to be heard.

“Keep falling back!” Rhythm announced.

With panic, Rhythm glanced behind his shoulder. They were less than a hundred meters from the camp. Something in the sky above the rooftops caught his attention. He turned more to get a better look. Small figures were flying their way. Pegasi! As they drew closer, Rhythm could make out their features better. He didn’t recognize any of them, all except one.

“We got back up!” Rhythm told his fighters.

The Pegasi armored in Resistance white flew overhead and circled around. A dark grey mare met eyes with Rhythm.

“Serenity!” He expressed with relief, yet too surprised to say any more. Out of all the ponies to come aid them, it was his friend!

“You guys helped us, so we’re going to help you!” Serenity explained quickly.

“Alright team, we got this!” She then told the sentries.

A couple of the Pegasi were carrying energy cannons. They fired thick lasers of energy at the Hybrids. That took out the cyborgs quite easily. Their numbers were dwindling. It was obvious they were now outnumbered, the remaining members now panicking.

A large, heavy Hybrid stepped out into the open. It held up a saw-like limb and reached for the nearest pony. BlizzardBlast was distracted fighting a skinny Hybrid. Some pony call out Blizzard’s name just in time. They twirled around in shock as they saw the large saw swipe past their face. It ripped into their prosthetic wing, tearing the fabric between the appendages.

An energy cannon blast hit the saw Hybrid and knocked it over. After a moment, it began to stir again, flailing its hooves. It attempted to get up, but failed to find its footing. Another blast, and the Hybrid was still for good.

Suddenly, a large yellow magic shield covered the remaining Hybrids. The Resistance ponies kept shooting energy at it, but it didn’t give. The shield originated from the horn of a Unicorn Hybrid. He wore a long red robe which hid his metal armor.

“We aren’t leaving unless we take some of you with us!” He called out.

“Then take me,” a mare’s voice replied back from behind the ponies.

All of the ponies stood still and turned to see where it came from. A red mare passed between Iridescent and ThunderCharm to display herself to the Hybrids. RoseTwist.

“What?” Rhythm squawked. “You can’t!”

“This way I can finally be with my husband,” RoseTwist defended.

“What about LilyMist?” Rhythm argued, shocked.

“It’s obvious you all can take care of her better than I can,” she sneered.

“That’s not true! You’re her mother!”

RoseTwist continued forward, and a few Hybrids raced to grab her.

“Someone stop her!” Rhythm pleaded.

Serenity dived out of the sky to RoseTwist’s side. She grabbed the mare with one hoof, and began firing at the Hybrids with another.

“Let me go!” the Earth Pony tried to thrash her head out of Serenity’s grasp.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I can’t let you,” Serenity said. “It’s my job.”

“Fight us all you want,” the Unicorn Hybrid stated, “but how could you deny someone who is willing to come with us?”

“She doesn’t know what she’s saying!” Rhythm shouted. She was obviously too blinded by grief to think clearly.

Suddenly, a Pegasus Hybrid rammed itself into Serenity, knocking her off RoseTwist. She fell to the ground and stared up horrified as the Pegasus began escorting the red mare away. It took much too long for Serenity to get her footing.

RoseTwist was guided into the large magic shield. Almost at once, the Hybrids began moving away in unison, the shield still covering them. They were getting away!

“We need to break the shield. Feather?” Rhythm called out desperately.

“It’s not doing anything!” FeatherTune responded, referring to his electric energy.

“Let me try!”

Just directly above Rhythm was a gold Pegasus holding an energy cannon. The end of the barrel began to glow ever greater. A large column of blue energy surged out, striking the shield. The blast caused the shield to shatter. HyperBlitz flew as fast as he could towards the Hybrid group, but the shield was replaced in a matter of seconds. HyperBlitz bonked on the shield and withered to the ground. He groaned in pain and frustration.

“We need to get to the Unicorn creating the shield,” Serenity told Rhythm.

“Right. Have your sentry break the shield again. Feather!” Rhythm requested again. “You stun the shielder inside!”

“Got it!”

Once again, the gold Pegasus charged his cannon. The shield broke against the blast of energy. Feather shot his energy, aiming at the Unicorn. The electric beam dispersed into different arcs before it could even reach its target. The shield was put up again.

“Uh, electric energy is not the most accurate at this range!” Feather scolded.

“C’mon, we have to go after them,” Serenity told her team.

They all followed her as she flew to the moving shield. Rhythm, and a few others, galloped after them. They were moving north west. Not directly north to their camp? The Hybrids trekked over the stream, not minding their metals getting wet. Rhythm and his earthbound ponies would have to do the same.

“Where are they going?” Rhythm shouted, taking a moment to catch his breath.

As they continued to follow, his question was answered. To the west were the train tracks. A large, dark, armored engine stood on them. Oh, Celestia, no! Rhythm couldn’t believe they had brought a train!

The shield was already over the train as the Hybrids began boarding on, taking RoseTwist with them. A few other Hybrids stayed behind, now facing the ponies chasing them. They began firing their guns back. One Hybrid flew to Rhythm’s group and slashed a claw at them. Rhythm aimed his at the claw Hybrid, trying to ignore the sting of Hybrid energy on his fur.

With a booming hiss, the engine began to crawl forward. It gained speed as the wheels clanged, clanked on the tracks. The Hybrids in front of the fighting ponies all took to the sky and turned around. The Pegasi flew towards their train.

“We have to get them!” Serenity called out and her Pegasi did as she ordered.

Rhythm just stood in his place, too shocked to say anything or move. Serenity’s group were flying over the engine, beginning to fade from sight. After a moment, the squad of sentries returned to the ponies waiting. They all wore morose expressions.

“I- I’m so sorry. We couldn’t catch up to the train,” Serenity reported, forlorn. “There was no way we could access it safely.

Rhythm just fell to his haunches, defeated. “No,” he said, barely a whisper.