Project Mechillion

by Ronocorian

Chapter Two: Ride Of The Valkyries.

Three months had passed, ever since his introduction into the Echelon Two Zero project. And here he was, with new wingmen, but the same squad leaders cruising along the ground, thrusters at full power, reaching a speed of one thousand trots per second.

"Steelwing!!!" A familiar voice screamed through the headset on Steelwing's head, he jumped with fright, Ironhoof never failed to dissapoint.
"WHAT!" Steelwing shouted back.
"Stop daydreaming! Combat ahead!"
"Changelings, 200 meters ahead" Echelon Two-Two said in an official but shaky tone.
"Now now ladies, i know its your first time out here, but dont lose your marbles!" Steelwing replied to them
"WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Ironhoof screamed as he prepared his mech for combat, Steelwing saw it shift into battle formation, moving vast iron plates into position, ready to soak enemy fire.
"Echelon squad, Transition, prepare for aerial engagement." Steelwing said as he felt the mech change shape, and slowly watched the floor shrink as the gargantuan steel wings extended and took effect.

It was time, the princesses had said so, he eagerly checked the holographic HUD projected onto the glass of the cockpit, showing him all the important things he needed to know in fine blue writing. He had chosen blue as it had been his favorite color, he adored the night sky, maybe that was where his slight infaturation for Princess Luna's flank had come from.
He quickly shaked the thought out of his head.

Lower Chassis integrity - 100%
Upper Chassis integrity - 100%
Shield Status - 100%
Thruster Output - 79% and increasing.

All was good there. Next he checked the weapon status.

Magical Reserves - 1000/1000
R/Shoulder Chaingun - 25000/25000
L/Shoulder Chaingun - 25000/25000
R/Arm Energy Blade - 1000/1000 (MG RSRV)
L/Arm Rifle - 1250/1250
Rockets - 36/36

All was good there too. Steelwing was ready.
"Echelon Two-Zero locked and loaded!" Steelwing called, alerting the others that he was ready.
"Echelon Two-One locked and loaded!"
"Echelon Two-Two locked and loaded!"
"Echelon locked!" yelled Steelwing.
"Ragnarok locked!" yelled Ironhoof in his rough voice.
"Decimator locked!" yelled Shadowhorn finally.
"Black Dusk, take immediate combat positions, Echelon, take point!" Steelwing yelled as he watched his wingmen soar forward and eagerly pushed the thrusters up to join up with them.
"Ragnarok, Prepare for melee combat" Steelwing said.
"Roger that. Ragnarok ready for grizzly" said Ironhoof in his typical gruff voice
finally steelwing finished his order.
"Decimators, support stance!"
"On it....In position" replied Shadowhorn.

Suddenly static burst through the mic.
"This is ponyville delta one-one! we need immediate assistance! changeling BOW's have been deployed, is anybody out there?!!!"

"This is EDI Black Dusk reading you loud and clear one one. fall back to point foxtrot two, will assist" replied Steelwing.
"Well boys, looks like we have a job to do" finished Ironhoof, a rocket soaring past him.
"Enemy sighted!" screamed Ragnarok One-One"

Steelwing took the shot, using the zoom on his rifle his scoped in and took a changeling BOW clean out with a single hit of the 80mm particle slug. He watched down the scope as the changelings face moved from an expression of devious pleasure to pure terror as the slug soared towards his head. The last thing the monster saw was a large metal slug heading towards him, the last thing Steelwing saw of that monster was its head decompact into an explosion of violet blood and chunks of jelly like fluid that looked an awful lot like brain.
"FUCK YEAH!!!" Ironhoof screamed as he saw the fireworks explosion, and that very moment the lines closed, the three juggernaut mechs collided heavily with the enemy battleline, drawing swords of varying colors and cutting down an entire row of them in a series of devastating cleaves that left the opposition in more pieces than you could count. or as Ironhoof would say. "Severely fucked up."
"Echelon Soaring maneuver three one!" Steelwing called, below he could hear the screaming of the changelings as they got messed up by the burning magical energy swords, being enchanced by the Decimators outragous magical ability.
Think of those swords as pure unicorn magic, solidified into a red hot blade that would melt skin, bone and armor alike. Steelwing winced at the thought.
"Roger!" Echelon Two-One and Two-Two called.

The three Valkyrie mechs flew over the enemies battleline and headed straight for the HPTs (High Priority Targets) dropping rockets and spraying minigun fire at the crowd of changelings below as they did so, skewering many of the smaller changelings into tiny bits or simply incinerating the others.

Echelon squad sniped four HPTs over the next fifteen seconds, and Steelwing allowed himself a smug grin.
"FUCK THIS SHIT!!!" Ironhoof yelled as he dispersed the energy blade and extended a large mini gun from out of the Juggernaut mechs right arm.
"They're falling back!" observed Echelon Two-Two just before Steelwing watched his mech combust into a flaming meteor that flew towards the floor and exploded. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" were the last words that were ever heard leaving his mouth.
"What the fuck was that!!!" Steelwing yelled down the team communicator.
"Anti Air!" Screamed Echelon Two-One as he dodged a large missile flying up towards his mech, he doglegged right....straight into Steelwing.
Steelwing screamed as the explosion of his rockets tore his mech apart and a large crack appeared up the centre of the cockpit glass.
Two-One was a pile of rubble on the ground below and the floor was rapidly approaching Steelwing as he nose dived straight for the pathways of Ponyville
"Steelwing!!!" shouted Ironhoof and Shadowhorn as he fell.

"Thrusters Unresponsive" yelled the onboard AI
"Structural Integrity - 23%"
"Shield Status - Offline." it continued.

The last thing Steelwing remembered was a large impact and the sound of shattering glass.
He felt cold iron bars and sections of glass force themselves into his body just before he lost conciousness.