Mega Man X: Paradise Lost

by Captain L

Chapter 8: Fallen Pony of the Forest

Chapter 8: Fallen Pony of the Forest

“Yes, the Crystal Heart. It’s an ancient relic of the Crystal Empire. It was used once a year at the Crystal Fair to channel the happy feelings of all the Crystal Ponies to repel their former tyrant, King Sombra. The Changeling Queen must want it to fill the swarm with enough love to make them unstoppable.”

X was listening to Twilight’s explanation. “So, if this Crystal Heart can make their army all-powerful, why now? Not only would they not need that much energy to completely squash us, but this war’s been going on for a long time. Why is it a top priority now?”

“That’s easy. Changelings are very susceptible to cold temperatures, and the Crystal Empire is located right in the middle of the arctic. It’s always been a priority, but Changelings were dropping dead in the middle of the snow. She didn’t have the strength for a full-on sweep of the area, and there weren’t enough Mavericks either. Which still raises one question, what changed so suddenly? Why is it an attainable goal now?” Axl was only a drone in the army, despite his skills, he wasn’t high ranking and was certainly never told anything.

Zero chuckled. “Do you still think it was a bad idea to let a Changeling in our team, Twilight? He’s provided plenty of valuable intel in the time we’ve had him.”

“I’ll accept him when I know he’s not a traitorous bitch! I’ll get back to doing research on their next possible plan and movements, you just get back to finding that last Maverick.” Twilight cut off her connection.

X and Axl looked at Zero. “Hey, don’t look at me, she’s usually like this. She gets angry and moody when she’s being proven wrong.”

“Hey, you’re lucky. You get to go out in the field, I have to spend all day with her.”

Zero softly groaned. “Lightning, am I crazy, or haven’t we already talked about you not butting into conversations?”

“You’re certainly crazy, but right. I just like doing this, and you can’t really stop me. You’re approaching the signatures of the last Maverick. Give ‘em your best!”

“I will. Now get out.”

“Why are you acting so distant? I’m not disconnecting until you call me by the sweet little nickname you gave me.”

“Ugh…see you soon, my sweet little iris.” Zero turned off his communicator and looked at his friends, both trying not to laugh. “Oh, you be quiet.”

“You certainly don’t sound happy with her. Is there a reason you’re still together?”

“I’ll give you that, X. She’s really annoying most of the time. But it’s something I can live with, and she makes up for it any other time.”

Axl shook his head. “Ironic, I suppose. Changelings feed on love, we understand it fully, yet as a species we never experience it. It’s just a life of loneliness until the queen mates with us.”

After hearing this, Zero stopped, thought about it for a second, then immediately punched himself in the head and gagged. “Axl, please. That is absolutely disgusting, and I never want to hear anything remotely close to it ever again.”

“You think you’ve got it bad? The Changelings subjected to it aren’t thrilled with it either. Some of them don’t even make it out alive. The queen’s not light.”

Zero quickly put his hoof over Axl’s mouth and got close to his ear. He then screamed “STOP!” Axl, at least partially sure he was now deaf, complied.

X, content with staying out of the conversation, noticed a rustling in the bushes. He walked closer to investigate, when a yellow flash burst out and flew up into the thick of a treetop. He pointed his horn at the trees. “Identify yourself immediately, or we will use force.”

Zero and Axl, now past their discussion, stood by X’s sides. The trees rustled, and the yellow flash dropped to the ground, revealing itself as a pegasus mare. She looked at the three Maverick Hunters in front of her and scoffed. “Of course. I would be confronted by Hunters. Is this all the world has come to? It’s nothing but an endless cycle of violence. Why do we crave nothing but war? It only ends in death, it always does.”

She noticed Axl. “So, this is where you end up. You go through all the trouble to leave our army and just join another. You’re so desperate to die.”

“You’re always just so depressing, Pandamonium. You always talked about how everyone does nothing but wait for death. You ended up as a bit of an outcast for a reason.”

X looked between Axl and the Maverick. “You know her?”

“Of course. All of the Changelings knew all of their commanding officers, by name if they had one. This is Bamboo Pandamonium. Most of the others don’t really like her, and I think you heard why.”

“I don’t need to care what the other Changelings think of me. We’ll all be dust one day, there’s no point to any of this. But don’t think I’ll let you go, oh no. I’ve still got a mission to show you all what happens when you defy our might.”

Zero stepped forward. “There’s no point in resisting. It’s three of us against just you. It’ll be better for all of us if you just give up now.”

“You think I’m alone? The forest is my natural element, I always have some of my own personal soldiers.” Pandamonium whistled and sat back. As the seconds passed, the Maverick Hunters looked at each other, confused. A sound could be heard in the distance, grounding louder as the ground began to shake. A very large, very angry panda burst into the scene, roaring loud enough that it could probably be heard from Canterlot.

Pandamonium looked at the clearly shocked Hunters before her. “You didn’t think I had the name ‘Bamboo Pandamonium’ without something worthy of that title? He’s been my secret weapon for a long time, and he’s always ready to rip apart any pony I deem not worthy. You will make for a tasty meal.”

Zero whispered into Axl’s ear. “I don’t suppose you could transform into something like that to put us on even ground?”

“Not possible. I can only change into things close to my size. That…thing falls well outside my range. But, I think I may have another idea. Cover me.” He jumped right onto Pandamonium, forcing her to the ground. He started up his magic and placed his horn directly onto her chest, fighting her to keep her down.

The actual panda wasn’t pleased with the Changeling’s mistreatment of his master, and he bared his claws to defend the mistress. But a blast of energy flew straight past his face, singeing the fur on his face. And the source was the blue pony in the group. As loyal as he was, stopping the one that threatened to kill him was a higher priority.

He charged at the two ponies, standing at each other’s sides. When he got close, they rolled away from each other, and began their assaults from the sides. Flurries of punches and kicks hit the panda on the base of his ribs, creating a steady stream of pain. X and Zero jumped into the air, and landed on the creature’s paws for a boost to the head.

The panda was having none of that. He closed his paws around the ponies, hoisting them into the air while they struggled to break free. When it became clear it was a futile effort, Zero called out. “Axl, you almost done over there?”

“Almost!” Axl kept working with Pandamonium’s body through his magic, extracting and copying her very essence of power.

The panda growled and opened its mouth, revealing very sharp teeth within. It lifted the paw holding Zero up head first. Acting on quick decisions to save his friend, X activated the Moving Wheel he obtained from Boarski and fired it from his horn, where it landed on the beast’s wrist and cut it. In pain, he dropped X, who continued with Dragoon’s Rising Fire and shoryukened it in the chin. The force of the attack not only caused it to release Zero, but propelled it a few inches off the ground and landed 4 feet away. It stood back up and roared loudly again. It would kill now, no question about it.

“Done!” Axl removed his horn from Pandamonium, who was a bit out of it from being magically invaded. He punched her in the head to knock her out, and jumped off of her body. His body was engulfed in green flames, and he transformed into her. “Panda, I order you to retreat and to leave these ponies alone!”

The panda looked at his master yelling at him. He wasn’t the smartest, but he could tell something was off. Not to mention, he still really wanted to kill his attackers.

When Axl Pandamonium noticed the beast wasn’t leaving, she flew up into his face and looked him directly in the eye. “Is this insurrection? Are you deliberately disobeying me? You will leave now!” Her eyes widened and stared, and the panda backed away and left, a bit scared of the yellow pegasus floating in front of him.

Once the threat was gone, Axl turned back into his normal body. “Sorry that took so long. Changelings can instantly transform into the shape of something else, but in order for me to use their powers, I need to extract their ‘DNA Core’. Due to her general unpleasantness, I never did it while I was still part of the Changeling army.”

X called up his communicator. “Captain Sparkle, we’ve fought the final Maverick. Yellow pegasus mare. We will return to Hunter Base.” There was silence on the other end. “Captain Sparkle, do you read me?” Still nothing. “Zero, I’m not getting Hunter Base.”

Zero attempted to make a connection. “Lightning Dust, we’re having trouble getting through to Twilight. What’s happening on your end?” He was also unable to get through. “This is really bad. Either someone’s blocking our connection, or something really bad has happened back at base. We need to get up there and investigate. X, grab the Maverick.”

X used his magic to place and hold Pandamonium on his back, and the three Hunters ran off to Canterlot.

---

The hunters eventually reached Hunter Base, after spending a few hours running. Pandamonium had woken up in that time, though she didn’t act like a threat, and never got off of X’s back. They had discussed the various possibilities of what occurred, and placed most of the guesses as worst-case scenarios. They were right.

The base was a wreck. All the screens and computers were broken and shattered, smoke filled the air, scorch marks littered the walls and floor, as did blood. Bodies scattered the floor, but other than the dead, the place was deserted. They called out for anypony to respond, only to be met with silence.

All four of them were in shock. None of them knew what could have caused any of this. Hunter Base was always so secure, so safe, and in their absence, it was completely destroyed.

A door on the opposite end of the room creaked open slightly, but they noticed. It stayed still for a moment before bursting wide open, a turquoise bolt zooming out. It collided with Zero and stopped moving, slowed down to reveal itself as Lightning Dust, holding Zero tightly. “Zero, you came back! I was so scared! I didn’t think we would ever see each other again!” She was fighting to speak through tears.

Zero patted her on the back and pet her in an attempt at comfort. “It’s alright, I’m here now. What happened here?”

“Vile escaped.”

Twilight was standing in the same doorway. “We don’t know what happened, but he secretly escaped from his cell and raided the armory before making himself known. With the weapons and armor he stole, he killed every Hunter here, barely suffering a scratch. The two of us and the prisoners are the only ones left.” She pointed at Axl, using her magic to pull out a knife. “And he’s to blame!”

Axl jumped backwards. “Me? What could I have done? I haven’t been here in hours!”

Twilight was advancing, holding the knife out as she walked. “But when you were here, you set something up past our guard! Changelings are slippery creatures, deceitful and untrustworthy.”

Zero, while still comforting his marefriend, glared at Twilight. “I know we’re dealing with a lot of death here, but you need to think logically. It’s what you’re known for. Vile has no allegiance, he would never side with anything. He works alone, he’s very proud of that. Any escape attempt was his doing and his doing alone. And considering he hates Changelings with a more violent passion than we do, Axl would have nothing to benefit from setting him free.”

Twilight was skeptical. “Really? Then how do you explain his destination? We had just barely finished the Trans Server, and he uses it after his rampage to send himself to the Crystal Empire! The Changelings are congregated there right now, he went to provide his unstoppable assistance in obtaining the Crystal Heart!”

X was taken aback. “They’re already at the Crystal Empire? We have to go now! We’re running out of time!”

Axl held his hoof in front of X. “It’s not that easy, X! This is the Changeling’s final attack, all of their forces are going to be in this one location. Even if they’re weakened by the freezing temperatures, it’s still pure numbers. Three Hunters against an army like theirs would be complete suicide. We need a plan of attack!”

“I have a plan: attack.” Zero pushed Lightning Dust away and looked her in the eyes. “I need to leave now. You understand, the fate of Equestria and the entire future is at stake here. You’ll need to handle yourself.” He walked towards the Trans Server room while motioning for X and Axl to follow. “Twilight, do we still have any eyes? Is there anything here that still works so you can continue your duty as mission control?”

Twilight ran after him. “You can’t just brush me off like this! This Changeling needs to be killed!”

“The entire pony race is at fate here, Twilight. It’s too important to bank anything on the possibility of Axl being a traitor. We’re going to the Crystal Empire now, and we need your help to increase the chances of a successful mission. That’s an order, Captain Sparkle.”

It wasn’t often that Zero referred to her by her rank. He was completely serious, in full battle mode, ready for a final fight. “Alright, commander. I’m trusting you on this. I’ll set up the Trans Server for a teleportation to its previous destination.” She ran out of the room, Lightning Dust following.

Zero turned to his two comrades. “Alright men, we’re going out there to stop the Changeling infestation once and for all. It’s going to be a difficult fight, it might seem impossible, but I believe in your strength. And know that if we don’t come back, we died for a noble cause. Everything that ever will be is resting on us. So, do I have your support?”

X and Axl put on their most serious faces and saluted. “Sir, yes sir!”

“Then let’s get moving!” The three of them marched to the Trans Server room, where Twilight was waiting. She motioned to the platform where they stood. After punching in a few commands, the device lit up, and they were teleported to the arctic regions for war.

Author's Note:

And there go the Mavericks! All that's left is the fortress levels, set in the arctic (I think the X-Hunters were too. They're not in this story. Spoilers). Changelings gonna die!

It was probably a bad idea to update this on April Fool's Day. Hey, it's done when it's done.

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[Yurick26]

Zero: "...my sweet little iris..."
ISWYDT