Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis

by Jasper77W

Chapter 2: A Brand New Reality

Everything went dark, a senseless and emotionless nothingness. Then it all sprang back into a chaotic mess of color and sound.

Dirt was flying, a heat wave followed by a shockwave hitting Rainbow full in the back and an explosion sending her ears ringing.

"What the hay-" she hit the ground, yellow dirt smudging onto her face and getting into her eyes.

"Go! GO!" she heard Octavia yell, and a pair of hooves grabbed her coat and forced her up to her hooves.

"Octavia-" Rainbow rubbed her eyes, looking around them. But all she saw was more explosions.

"KEEP MOVING!!" Octavia yelled, pushing Rainbow onwards.

There was a concrete shelter up ahead- and they seemed to be being chased after by somepony. Who, she had no idea- but she guessed she'd find out all about this bizarre situation when she gets some cover and isn't constantly getting shot at.

She heard gunshots behind them, and looked behind her while continuing on running through the field of dirt. The sky was relatively dark now, and the muzzle flares and streaks of bullets were bright yellow in the dark. Who fired them, Rainbow couldn't tell because of all the smoke. But what she could see were the blue lights that seemed to be indicator lights on some sort of robot.

Octavia drew a pistol, firing behind her. There was a robotic voice saying something, and the firing stopped briefly. But it all started again a second later.

They were at the shelter. Rainbow dived behind what remained of the concrete walls, bullets digging holes on them as their mysterious pursuers fired on.

"What the hay!?" Rainbow yelled again. She looked down, surprised to find she was in her bounty hunter clothes. Her black coat and hat were matted with dirt, and so were her dark clothes. "Octavia- the heck is going on here!? I was in the backyard a second ago!"

"Backyard...?" Octavia raised an eyebrow as if she didn't know what Rainbow was talking about. Then her ears rung, and she clutched her head in pain, falling to her knees. "Get it out! Gah! What is this...!?"

"Octavia!" Rainbow got to her side, holding her shoulders and trying to stabilize her.

Then Octavia stopped writhing, staring at the ground, shaking her head slowly.

"No... What is all this..." she stared wide eyed and full of fear at the ground.

"What is it!? Look at me-" Rainbow shook Octavia's shoulders. "What are you seeing!?"

"Not seeing... Remembering..." Octavia muttered.

"What is there to remember!? We were in the backyard a second ago!"

"We were.... But we were also running from the science faction..." Octavia frowned, rubbing her head. Then she looked up. "Rainbow, I don't know why... I don't know how.... But I have two sets of memories."

"Then you know what happened here?" Rainbow asked.

"I do. But it's a long story-" Octavia unslung a tommy gun from her back. "Let's take care of these guys first."

The firing had stopped, and through the chaotic silence they could hear heavy footsteps.

Rainbow searched her pockets, finding the metal capsule. It looked different though... It had some more edges and the red glow was a lot stronger than she remembered. She shook the weirdness of it all away, pressing the button.

The capsule sprang apart, unfolding and motors whining. All the pieces came back together, forming a huge metal cleaver.

"This... Is sick." Rainbow looked at the brand new blade, turning it around in her hooves. It had a battle-worn look, the paint scratched in multiple places. But the metal glowed above all, glinting even in the darkness. The red Element of Loyalty crystal shone brightly, the light growing even more intense than it was in Rainbow's hooves. It had spikes on the sides, and looked like they could fold. Rainbow turned a knob on the handle, and the spikes folded.

"Lovely." Rainbow said- nothing to make her feel more battle ready than a pimped-up version of the cleaver.

"Wait for it..." Octavia whispered as they heard the churning of motors and the heavy hoofsteps grow louder and louder by the second.

They heard a robotic hiss, a monotoned voice taunting them to come out. They waited a little longer, then the robot poked its head around the corner. It didn't seem to be a robot though, from the looks of it it seemed to be a pony in a heavy suit. Indicator lights on various areas of its armor lit the area blue, and it had a long smoothed-back head, a visor evident near the front.

Octavia pulled the trigger, the bullets hitting the visor but not penetrating the thick bulletproof glass.

The robot pony fully came around the corner, and before Rainbow could react it hit her full in the chest.

The blue pegasus flew back, cracking her back against a concrete wall. She slumped down onto the ground, and saw something dangling from her neck.

The necklace of her cutie mark that Dainty gave her.

"Stay safe..." she took the necklace and tucked it back under her shirt, cleaver flashing and slicing through the robot pony.

*

"Where are we? I mean, I know where we are, but we weren't here a second ago... Well, we were; but... What?" Dainty clutched her head. This whole world is so confusing she could just drop dead from it.

"Sssshhh...." Lily said, covering Dainty's mouth.

They were in a large metal warehouse, sunlight leaking through holes in the ceiling. They were hiding in the maze of rusting and abandoned containers, peering around corners warily.

"They're still after us, remember?" Lily said.

"Who? Oh yeah.. Those robot ponies... Damn. Where is Rainbow?" Dainty looked around her, suddenly worried as what they were in started settling in.

From what she could remember, Rainbow and Octavia were escorting them to some Science Faction facility, where they were meant to retrieve data, and where only Dainty could crack open the terminal. They had been ambushed, and Rainbow and Octavia had stayed behind to hold off the assault force. Dainty remembered seeing drop pods being fired from the barricade, landing somewhere nearby- so they decided to hide in the warehouse. From her first set of memories, she remembered Rainbow telling her about how the orbital barricade went down. The barricade is a huge metal web strung over the atmosphere of earth, ready to rain down havoc on any magic faction pony should it choose to, and the presumed refuge of the Science Faction. But from her second set of memories- the barricade was up for more than a few centuries already, and has never gone down before.

"Stay quiet." Dainty whispered, peering around them.

They both froze in terror as they heard a heavy footstep just around the corner, extremely close.

They remembered now- they were being pursued by a special type of mech pony from the Science Faction's wide arsenal- nick named Ghosts, because they have heavy cloaking systems and silenced motors. One can see a slight haze when a Ghost is under light, but once it enters shadows it becomes completely invisible- and the warehouse was full of shadows. A common way to pluck them out is to use a laser light- if the laser hits a Ghost, it bounces around inside so one may see the distorted and reflected light beam.

There was a heavy clunk to their right, and they slowly inched away from that area, bodies shaking with fright.

The hoofsteps slowly got closer, each loud crack shaking the floor as the invisible heavy robot stomped around the maze.

Dainty peered around the corner, her breathing irregular as she tried to keep quiet. Everything was still, and she couldn't see anything that moved at all. A puddle of water sat in the middle of a small clearing, quivering slightly as a different pair of hoof steps approached. Then it splashed, water spraying everywhere as an invisible hoof stomped into it. Dainty squeaked, swinging behind the cargo container and covering her mouth.

"It's... Right... There..." she whispered, voice quivering.

"What do we do?" Lily had tears in her eyes. She was so scared.

"I... I don't know." Dainty said- this time, Rainbow won't be around to look after them.

Still the hoofsteps got closer, and the two fillies flattened themselves against the wall, their breathing irregular.

"It... It's coming... Run..." Lily stuttered, tugging on Dainty's shoulder.

Dainty was paralyzed for a second, too afraid to move or even breath. Then she came back to her senses as Lily tapped her on the head, and started quietly moving in the opposite direction of the hoofsteps. They moved fast and efficiently, matching the rhythm of the heavy robotic hoofsteps so it could cover their own as they scurried away.

They pressed their backs against a corrugated ion wall, Dainty peering around the corner while Lily checked around them. They needed to find somewhere to hide- and fast.

Dainty tapped Lily gently on the shoulder. "Up there!" she whispered, pointing at an angle up at the far corner.

"Where..?" Lily squinted her eyes, trying to see through the thick rays of sunlight pouring in through holes in the ceiling.

"They used cranes to move the cargo containers... We could hide in the operator's control room!" Dainty said, pointing at a small box on the upper right corner, only accessible from the outside via catwalks and the inside via a ladder.

Catwalks lined the walls on the inside, going around in huge rings and running alongside the walls. Here and there there were ladders leading to them, but all were broken and some sections of the catwalks have collapsed. They all eventually led back to the control room, which would provide an alternate escape route should the Ghosts discover their hiding spot. They could only access the upper levels through the control room ladder, and problem is- it's on the other side of the entire maze of containers, almost twenty meters away and barely visible through the rays of light.

"That's too far away!" Lily exclaimed in a hushed voice.

"Do or die." Dainty whispered. She might sound brave, but hell no- she wanted to reject the idea just as much as Lily did- possibly even more.

"I'll give it a shot, then." Lily said, peering up at the innocent-looking little box.

"Stay sharp and listen for any sound- any sound at all." Dainty whispered, making one last check around the corner, and started gingerly moving alongside a wall, shadows shifting on her face as light shone through the catwalk above her.

"Dainty- we should move back inside the maze." Lily whispered.

"But they're all in there!"

"And we have no where to hide and we can't outrun them here in the open!"

Dainty stopped, suddenly more afraid than ever. She looked around her, down the way they came and up the way they're about to go. All seems clear- but you could never know.

They quickly darted back into the maze of containers, the worn and rusting colors adding to the eery silence. It was the silence that the fillies were afraid of, and for the first time since entering the warehouse; hoped for any kind of noise as to indicate where their pursuers were.

There was a deafening bang, and they heard a container tip on its side and smash onto the floor. The noise echoed off the entire warehouse, seeming a lot louder than it actually was.

Dainty quickly covered Lily's mouth to prevent her from making a sound. Clearly that sudden loud noise in the silence was part of a tactic to throw them off- but Dainty wasn't about to fall for that.

Despite this, the fillies still could not prevent the psychological effect from settling in. They watched the containers warily, mindful that somepony might just tip one on them and crush them underneath.

"Keep searching. They're in here somewhere." a deep synthetic voice rumbled.

Dainty and Lily froze immediately as the voice came from just around the corner, so close they could even hear the electronics buzzing as the robot pony stopped inches away, the only thing separating them from view was the corner of a flimsy cargo container.

Dainty and Lily quivered with fright as they saw a small pebble skittle away, clearly kicked by the robot pony. Despite the silenced motors, they could still hear them whining because they were so close.

Lily grabbed a rock off the floor, throwing it far over her head.

The robot pony stopped advancing, and they heard motors whine as it turned around to check out the noise. For a minute it didn't move, seemingly unconvinced. Then, it started walking away; the churning of mechanics growing fainter and fainter as it left.

Dainty let out a deep quivering breath, sliding down the wall and slumping onto the floor, her heart beating against her chest and her body covered in cold sweat.

"Holy cheeseburgers... That was close..." Lily leant on a wall, still trying to get over the fact that they were still alive.

"Keep... Moving?" Dainty caught her breath, gulped, and stood up.

They continued zipping through the maze, carefully listening for anything every time they approach a corner. They froze again when they heard a loud echoey clang above them, and looked up.

There was a robot pony standing on the container, his shape barely visible as the rays of sunlight suddenly became disrupted in an area. He seemed to have his back to them, so they quickly ducked down and kept low and close to the container.

Lily was about to speak, but Dainty covered her mouth and shook her head. The robot pony was too close to make any noise at all.

Dainty looked around her, then found the rock Lily threw earlier. It was out in the open, in the way of several paths. It was risky, since another robot pony might be scouting in the paths- but it was their only shot of getting past the one up top.

Dainty made a few gestures to Lily, telling her to keep an eye on the robot pony on the container.

Lily nodded, peering up. She ducked back down again, giving the all clear. Dainty started inching forward, careful not to make any noise. The rock was right there, but she needed to check the corners as well before reaching it.

She looked back to Lily, who nodded to indicate the robot pony was looking away.
Dainty peered around the corners, and when she was certain there was nothing there, she darted quietly forward and snatched the rock off the floor. She gave Lily a mouthed countdown, then threw it down the direction they came.

They quickly scuttled around the container, avoiding the robot pony's field of vision as it turned around to investigate the loud clang.

"Keep going-" Dainty pushed Lily forward as they ran down a path.

Lily suddenly stopped, and Dainty bumped into her and fell onto her back.

"What are you doing!? Keep going!" she said in a hushed tone.

But Lily seemed to be frozen in fright, a single tear sliding down her cheek and her body quivering. It's as if she were staring death straight in the eye.

Dainty looked up, and her eyes widened in horror as she saw it.

Under the rays of sunlight, was a barely visible outline of a robot pony, standing millimeters away from Lily. Then the shape moved, and Dainty could see the cloaked sword being raised.

"RUN!" Dainty shoved Lily to the side, and dived for the other. The ground they were standing on a second ago split into chunks of concrete as the sword hit.

There was a loud and solid clunk behind them, and Dainty turned around. Another robot pony. Soon the place will be swarmed with them, and now they were trapped in the center with nowhere to run.

Dainty's back bumped Lily's as they slowly backed away, eyeing the Ghosts cautiously.
There was a loud whistling noise, and they saw a silver flash. The next second the robot pony had an odd looking throwing knife stuck under its head piece and visor, a green LED indicator turning red with a beep.

Then the Ghost blew apart, suddenly coming into existence as the cloaking device was destroyed. Chunks of metal mixed with flesh clattering onto the ground, a black and pink splatter where it was a second ago, littered with indistinguishable bits and pieces.

Dainty and Lily stared in horror at the mess, the blood mist still settling. They heard another whistling, and the Ghost behind them exploded. They turned around just in time to catch the demented remains of its body fall to the ground- it looked like a crushed insect, the outer shell broken in pieces but still stuck to the bloody flesh on the inside. Guts poured out from the carcass, spilling onto the floor.

Dainty gagged, turning away and squinting her eyes shut. How could this be happening? They were in school a second ago... And now this....

She could tell Lily wasn't faring any better, vomiting onto the floor.

There were heavy hoofsteps as a full squad of Ghosts came around the corner, their energy weapons glowing an intense purple.

There was a light clunk above the two fillies, too light to be an enemy- and they looked up.

The dark silhouette of a bat pony stood tall on the cargo container, back lit by the sunlight. Two large yellow eyes seemed to glow in the shadows, those of a predator waiting to catch its prey.

Blink Nightshade brought her right hoof up, showing a splayed out array of throwing knives.

"Well guess who brought knives to a gun fight." she said without emotion.