Operation: Rising Star, Part Two
Twilight stumbled as she stood up, trying to balance with her wings, her body still stiff and tired. She couldn’t afford to let that stop her, though. The short, sudden battle within her own skull had cleared her thoughts, at least. Enough to realise something fairly daunting:
She was outnumbered.
There were some… creatures in front of her. Most of them were red, and looked exoskeletal. There was another, a different colour and much softer looking. If it came to it, that one would be the easiest target.
That said, it was also the only one who wasn’t pointing a bright green glowing thing at her, and was, in fact, carefully stepping backwards and away from her.
It still wasn’t easy to think straight, especially when the creatures were being extremely loud, and she was still having difficulty staying on her hooves. This was bad. This was very, very bad.
There were four, no, three of them. Three, and the one she’d knocked to the ground earlier. And the discoloured one. She couldn’t let this turn into a fight – she didn’t think she could win if it did.
“Whatever you are,” Twilight spoke, her voice hoarse from her sore throat, but backed with determination, “I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
***
“Going silent,” Viking whispered over comms, activating his stealth suit’s active camouflage at the first chance he got, making him nigh invisible.
“Sir, get out of here! Go!” Bishop shouted at Jan, while keeping between the woodsman and the newly-awakened xeno, bringing his rifle to bear on it. Guseva and Crash quickly followed suit, aiming their weapons against the hostile before it could do the same back.
“Everyone, hold your fire!” Deadeye barked, “Viking, get close enough to use that Arc Thrower!”
At that moment, its mouth opened. The creature let out a series of short, sharp growls, its voice coarse and angry, to match its furrowed eyes and narrowed pupils. The glow surrounding its horn intensified as it did so, becoming almost blindingly bright.
“This thing isn’t playing around anymore!” Crash shouted over the radio.
“Crash, keep your head on! Viking, you’d better be moving in!” Deadeye shouted again, as the beast glanced between the troops before it, fixing each of them with a glare.
Guseva tried to swallow her fright, but her mouth was dry. Her gun was held with a white-knuckle grip, and her finger curled around the trigger.
And then it turned its glare on her.
She pulled the trigger, in three quick shots, two aimed for the chest, one for the head. Three searing bolts of plasma burned the air around them as they shot towards their target with blinding speed.
The beast didn’t so much as blink as one after another, the plasma shots closed to less than a foot’s distance of it, before turning ninety degrees in the air and slamming into the ground by its feet, scorching the forest floor.
“Sh-shot wide!” Guseva stammered, panic gripping her further. She wanted to run, wanted to hide. This wasn’t a fight she could win! That thing was dangerous! “That isn’t meant to happen!” she shrieked, before turning to run.
“Guseva, hold steady! Don’t-!” Deadeye began, before a streak of dark purple light shot forward from the creature’s glowing horn, striking the Russian in the back, knocking her over forwards to the ground. The woodsman took this opportunity to run himself, bolting into the woods at a breakneck pace.
“Covering fire!” Crash shouted, liberally spraying plasma fire at the hostile before him. Most sailed past it. Those aimed to hit deflected like light off of a mirror, slamming into trees and causing Bishop and Viking to duck into cover. The X-ray wasn’t even facing him, instead frowning at Guseva’s downed form, its mouth slightly agape.
Guseva tried to pick herself up again, flailing her arms in the hope of finding something to garb on to to expediate her escape. The xeno took this as its cue to turn on Crash, aiming a second bolt at his chest. He neatly sidestepped the blow, and opened fire with his heavy weapon again, sending more plasma fire scattering away from the target’s invisible shield.
“Crash, cease fire!” Deadeye ordered, “You’re only drawing attention to yourself!”
“Then what do we do?” Bishop shouted, peeping out from behind a sturdy fir to keep and eye on the hostile.
Deadeye thought for a moment. “Flypaper.”
“Flypaper!?” Bishop asked, astounded, “What the hell does that mean?”
“Tell you later. Viking, get ready to move in,” Deadeye replied, zeroing in his next shot at the blinding light atop his target’s head.
He readjusted himself, bracing his rifle over his left elbow.
He took up the trigger’s slack.
He drew one last breath.
He fired.
***
Pain lanced across Twilight’s scalp, a searing, burning pain. She dropped with surprise, instinctively throwing a hoof over her head to cover herself. Where had that come from?
Ignoring the stench of burnt mane, Twilight anxiously checked her horn. It hadn’t been hit. The blast had gone wide. She could keep deflecting them!
…If she could spot them coming, at least.
Twilight turned and glanced around, spotting first the fresh plasma scoring on a nearby tree, then in the opposite direction. Sure enough, there was another creature over there, this one black, with a white face. It was a long way away, but if she didn’t stop it, she didn’t stand a chance against the rest of them. She started charging up another spell, this one to knock the weapon out of the creature’s claws. She couldn’t do a lot more than that and guarantee a hit in the time she had.
Over the nearby creatures’ shouting and the continuous chiming created by her own magic, Twilight didn’t hear the faint crackle of one other, invisible creature de-cloaking behind her. Pain lanced across her back and down her legs. Everything became painfully loud, threatening to shatter her eardrums, then suddenly distorted and quiet. Harsh colours in chaotic patterns flashed over her vision at an insane rate, and her head was struck with a numbing pain so terrible she thought it might burst, as one point two one gigawatts of nerve-wrecking electricity coursed through her body.
And all of the magic she’d been charging and holding exploded outwards.
***
A circular sheet of lilac light shot outwards at an alarming rate, expanding from the point of the hostile’s horn, knocking three veteran X-COM soldiers into the air and onto the ground before they could react, splintering the bark and flesh of the nearby trees it struck.
Viking scrabbled to get up, sitting upright as he searched for his dropped Arc Thrower. It was only a few feet away, and looked to be still intact. Then he glanced down himself, towards the shocked hostile.
It was limp, lying on the ground again. Bishop was already moving in, still on his feet thanks to the cover his tree had provided him. Crash was sat on his backside like Viking, and Guseva had been sprawled out on her front again.
Bishop kept his rifle trained on the target as he approached. It didn’t move. He took his left hand off of his weapon and snapped his fingers twice in front of the creature’s open eyes. No response. “Hostile successfully pacified,” he reported, to be met with sighs of relief from the rest of his squad.
“Good, now go check on Pimenova, see if she’s hurt,” Deadeye ordered, still keeping his rifle trained on the alien’s downed form. He’d been well away from the shockwave. “Crash, Viking, you two get that thing subjugated and into the Skyranger’s hold. Guseva, you still with us?”
“Y-yes,” Guseva responded nervously, “sorry for”-
“Don’t sweat it,” Deadeye interrupted, “that was going to happen anyway. We weren’t going to get a chance to talk this thing down.” He paused for a moment, before changing his addressee, “Big Sky, this is Strike One. Payload is secure, we’re beginning to load it now.”
The squad continued their work with little more said between them.
***
Twilight wanted to panic. She wanted to scream, wanted to run. She wanted to get out of here and just go home. But she couldn’t. The alicorn wasn’t exactly sure what they’d done to her, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t talk, she couldn’t use magic. She could barely even breathe, except for the shallow breaths that were barely enough to keep her conscious.
Everything sounded muted and blurry, as if she were fifteen feet underwater. She could still see perfectly fine, but she wished that she couldn’t, that she could close her paralysed eyelids and just shut out the world. No such luck. She was forced to watch every second, as she was grabbed by her legs and hauled over one of the exoskeletal creatures’ shoulders. She was forced to watch the ground swaying below her, as it marched away from where she had woken up. She couldn’t help but stare downwards as fallen needles and twigs gave way to dull grass, as her captor walked into an open meadow, a dull, low roaring noise seeping into her ears. Her eyes began to sting with dryness as first the creature’s footsteps changed from a gentle thud to a metallic clunk, and a slanted metal floor slid into view beneath her.
Twilight’s panic hit new heights – what was this metal monstrosity? Why was it roaring? Where were these creatures taking her? What – Twilight would’ve gulped with dread had she been able – what were they going to do to her?
The creature carrying her grunted as it hefted her body off of its shoulder, dumping her limp form onto a flat, metal surface. A few straps were buckled together over her, tying her down like a crate on a ship, their edges biting into her skin beneath her coat. She was still staring backwards, unblinkingly looking at the open door through which she’d been transported, her eyes burning with dehydration. She wished she was back out there. She wished she hadn’t been immobilised. She wished she was back in Equestria, lying in her own bed or talking to her friends. She wished, hoped, and mentally pleaded with anything that could hear, for this to please be all just a horrifying dream.
The creature squatted down in front of her, staring her eye to reflective lense. Its head tilted sideways, and it moved one of its claws to her face, directly towards her violet irises. Its talons were drawn across her eyes, and the world went dark. Alone in her own mind, Twilight screamed in terror, such that no voice could ever match.
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Glad to see a update, I was afraid you where going to make the xcom opratives over powered in the fight, you pulled writing a good fight.
2107489
Thanks! Combat write-ups are one of the things I can bee good at if it's brief. Drawn-out fights start to get repetitive after a while (but then, ideally, fights should be kept short anyway).
2107638
>Is a Captain in-game
>Is a Captain in-fic
>Has a pretty darned decent Will score
>Still cries like a bitch with the slightest provocation in-game
You win yourself a virtual cookie.
2107613
Personally, I think Twilight Sparkle alone being able to defend herself so well against SIX X-COM operatives is a little bit silly.
Good update but update faster..... if you dont mind
I definitely want to see more
2107700
Note that she lost in less than thirty seconds, and only three of them actually opened fire on her. As for Pimenov... engaging Twilight Sparkle in any sort of power contest (without atrifacts) seems like a pretty bad idea to me.
2107969
Sat in the middle of a ton of coursework atm, but I'm finding time where I can.
Awww sweet tacos, chapter 2!!
This is really good stuff. Great writing and you can really see the game elements without it being robotic. Looking forward to chapter 3.
2108241
Artifacts, as in armour or weapons?
2112773
Magical items and the like, such as the Alicorn Amulet or anything that would fill the same role.
2113204
...What?
2113846
...Magic Duel? The thingy Trixie's using to boost her magical power tenfold so that she can beat Twilight in a contest?
2119101
Ermm, I don't know what you're talking about.
2122110
It was an episode?
Never mind. By "Atrifacts" I meant anything that would add to the magical strength of the person using it.
So you would need another volunteer in order to stand a chance against her as a unicorn but now that she's an alicorn i doubt even the uber-ethreal could beat her.
It's a little weird how quickly Twilight resorts to violence.
You had to go there, didn't you?
5350757
She is scared and surrounded by hostile monsters that attacked her first.
I'm guess this is before EG1
cue
is not a valid formation. It should be enemy's or enemies', depending on whether you want plural or not.
6392341 Not to mention she has a horrible headache and can't think straight.
That moment where they have a 99% chance to hit...
but they miss.
sub·ju·gate
ˈsəbjəˌɡāt/
verb
verb: subjugate; 3rd person present: subjugates; past tense: subjugated; past participle: subjugated; gerund or present participle: subjugating
bring under domination or control, especially by conquest.
synonyms: conquer, vanquish, defeat, crush, quash, bring someone to their knees, enslave, subdue, suppress
antonyms: liberate
make someone or something subordinate to.
Yeah, I don't think a word that means enslave works to well in this sentence...
Was the Russian psionic's shot a 99% chance rating :D?
Twilight's actions fit into a reasonable self-defense pattern that is entirely in character, but her first thoughts at the start of the chapter don't fit. She's assuming, without bias, that strange creatures are hostile. That's not Twilight Sparkle.
So far it's a small thing, and certainly any out of character hostility is going to be swamped by righteous fury and terror from here on out, but it has me on edge for other signs that her character is going to be off. That's not a thought you want placed in your readers' heads.
Just found this story, read both chapters, enjoyed both chapters and now want more.
...that is about as much as much power as the two nuclear reactors on the Nimitz put out...
Good joke tho. I just can't help but picture twilight getting hit in the face with one of these...
bremolympicnlus.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/uss-nimitz-sm.jpg
Roflamao!
5350757
Not really. She had already been attacked in her own mind once, by the psychic. So, she acted to defend herself by repulsing the attack. The Humans read it as an attack on one of their own, instead of Twilight defending herself, and attacked back, as they were trained to do. Twilight, again, defended herself, not truly attacking as such, until they electrocuted her, in which case all her stored and concentrated magic went off like a bomb. She wasn't truly actively 'attacking' in the sense that she was on the offensive, but was conducting an active defense. That is the Twilight that we know of Alicorn nature and later seasons. It's a little extreme for her nature, true, but not beyond the possibilities of her training. After all, she's not trying to actively kill them, just stop their attacks on her.
Let’s be honest here if twilight really wanted to she could have wiped out the entire squad in a second. She’s a alicorn she’s in an entire different league from anything they’ve ever fought. If twilight had been striking to kill or was even coherent at all they would have lost hard.
9499995
She doesn't has the balls to kill. And second, that squad has faced worse by the aliens themselves. Plus, they dealt with psionics before from again, the hostile invading aliens.
Poor twilight, she suffers for the actions of others.
Will the humans be civil about her i wonder?
The war is already over? To mutch wastest potencial in my view...