31. Rally Point
Metroid Equis
Chapter 31
Rally Point
[The Crystal Empire | Throne Room]
Human and pony alike gathered at the magical projection of the western front in the center of the throne room, all wondering if they were indeed seeing the same thing: a mechanized-looking alicorn trotting and moving to slam into the Changeling lines. Unicorns particularly skilled with magic had the ability to relay between each other and project images over short to moderate amounts of ‘hoofing’ distance since there were no battlefield video cameras available. Whispers and mutterings never ceased as all, including the Princesses and Federation Officers, tried to wrap their minds around the awesome display of force.
“So, just to be clear, we’re all seeing the same thing, right?” Colonel Borsig was the first to break the collective stunned silence.
“Indeed so,” Celestia replied, eyes transfixed on the display and knowing that this machine was entirely Luna’s doing.
“Yep,” Shining Armor added, having few words that could adequately describe what he was thinking at the sudden entrance of the Warhorse.
“Glad I wasn’t the only one,” Princess Cadance finally had her words. With initial confusion abated, it was clearly seen through the projection that the formerly offending Changelings were now completely on the run. As everyone’s minds began returning rational thought all believed it was a good idea to capitalize on the unexpected yet welcome retreat of the much-more numerous enemy. Borsig fixed his earpiece:
“All units, the Changelings are in full retreat! Pursue the enemy, repeat! Changelings are on the run, give chase!”
“All Equine units are to follow suit! Find out where they came from and we’re gonna chase ‘em back to the depths of Tartarus,” Shining Armor also ordered a full-on counterattack. With Samus, Luna, and that thing leading the front they were almost assured a victory. It would be borderline lying if Shining had not had a bit of revenge on his mind for the semi-recent events of a particular wedding of his.
“Alright, now it looks like we can all breathe a bit easier,” Borsig added, removing his headpiece and ruffling the silver hair under his visorcap. That was the greatest relief to all, as the Changelings were threatening the very existence of the Crystal Empire as a whole, so it appeared that threat was completely wiped out or at the very least diverted… though with what just entered the field, odds are it was gonna be the former.
“So it seems. I’ve tasked Luna’s troops to deal with whatever remains inside the Empire’s borders. Now, it’s time to take the fight back to the enemy and vanquish this threat for good,” Celestia stood firm, taking a very serious and commanding look much unlike the motherly and compassionate leader the ponies have grown to know. She turned to one of the Magickakorps troopers watching the show:
“Pass on an order: Double-time the cleansing of the Empire’s streets. Once it’s safe, I want all of the Element Bearers back here posthaste.”
“Right away, Your Majesty!” the female soldier saluted and teleported out of sight.
“Now,” Celestia turned back to the projection as the Warhorse slammed straight into the front lines. “We find where the Changelings came from, eliminate the hive, and continue dealing with the Phazon.”
[Frozen Overworld]
Samus did have to admit that ‘trotting’ felt almost too natural as the Warhorse, but even so, she still stumbled every now and then simply due to the fact that her mind was never wired for such a feat. Nevertheless, in the face of a retreating enemy on both the ground and in the air, there was still time for what could be considered more or less as a ‘field tutorial’ with Luna at the head… literally.
“Alright Samus, we need to stabilize your locomotion before we can fully catch up to the retreating Changelings. Remember, movement along the diagonal: left front hoof with right rear, and right front hoof with left rear. Think of how your arms passively swing when you walk,” Luna instructed as she kept a diligent eye on the battlefield as well as the schematics of the machine that were fed into her mind via the magical/neural uplink for the commander.
Samus wordlessly performed as she was told, and Luna’s little algorithm certainly helped her balance tremendously. What little correction was needed was achieved, and the Warhorse was quickly closing distance.
“Concentrate on your ability and charge the horn like you would your grapple beam,” Luna spoke up once more. Samus took no issue with listening to her instruction as she operated the Equine equivalent of Quadraxis. As such, she did as she was told and the Warhorse’s horn glowed luminously teal... it was as if the horn was actually her grapple beam, which sounded utterly ridiculous in hindsight but now was not the time to debate realities and semantics.
"Very good, now concentrate just as you did on the destruction spell to fire a hard-magic projectile. Depending on how skilled you are as well as how wild your imagination may run, you may alter the properties of the offensive magic as you see fit. There's a platoon-sized formation of Changelings on the ground still threatening our forces, five degrees to the left. Eliminate them," Luna casually ordered. Looking to the left through the eyes of the mechanized beast, Samus indeed found what the Lunar Princess was referring to and released the 'charged-shot' with similar high-explosive capabilities of the last. The teal-blue hard-magic 'shell' impacted directly into the center of the offending formation, completely annihilating it and relieving friendly forces, who immediately joined the counterassault.
"Excellent shot, Samus! Press forward!" Luna praised heartily, continuing to survey the battlefield. Her radio, however, notified her of another attempt to contact her:
"Luna, this is Celestia. Are you there?" the Solar Princess broadcast on the channel.
"I read you loud and clear, sister. What can I do for you?" Luna answered with some mix of smugness and elation lacing her words. Obviously she did not seem stressed anymore.
"I'm assuming you have everything to do with the enormous metal alicorn-like machine that just literally popped up from the ground..."
"Your inferential abilities continue to do well by you, Celestia! I'm currently in the head of the machine as we speak and march," Luna confirmed, another magical discharge of energy being sent off into another group of Changelings.
"I do not suppose you have an explanation to how you acquired such a weapon?" Celestia asked sarcastically, knowing full well that this was just another one of Luna's secrets. Samus, on the other hand, was passively listening to the exchange as she took care of the business side of things. The Warhorse had finally reached the defensive trenchline.
"I shall be more than happy to explain once this is all over, but for now, I only wish for you to take events as they are until the Changeling threat has been dealt with accordingly. Can we do that, please?” she asked, wanting to make sure the important events at hand were dealt with first before inevitably getting into another argument with her sister over secrets. Samus’s trek stopped, having finally retaken all lost ground while a sigh from the other end of the radio could be heard after several moments of silence.
"Where is Samus?"
"She is here with me, piloting this mechanoid!"
"Hi Princess," Samus was able to speak (though she did not entirely understand how) and affirm the Day Princess of her presence. Knowing they were both safe, Celestia only sighed once more and conceded to abide by Luna's request.
“Very well, Lu. We averted a disaster with the potentially catastrophic spread of the Phazon should the Empire's shields have been taken down. We cannot afford another sudden emergency. Take the fight back to the Changelings and ensure that they cannot mount another offense. Find their hive and destroy it," Celestia spoke with confidence and authority. Luna could not have had any more respect for her than at the present moment.
"It shall be done, sister. They shall be dealt with swiftly and firmly," Luna responded, the channel going dark once she finished her words. She then switched over to the general battle channel which her troops as well as the Federation had access to:
"Valiant warriors, fear not this machine of metal and magic for Samus and I are within. Rally around us and let us all drive the Changelings back to the pits of their hive, then immolate it in entirety. Onward!" Luna gave the order, to which all soldiers on the ground instantly complied with a tenfold boost in morale. Samus began the trot anew, fully giving chase to the retreating Changeling army. However, it appeared hundreds had taken flight and were on another attack path, Solders and Drones alike.
"Luna, is there a way to deal with airborne enemies?" Samus asked, bracing for another confrontation in which she felt a magical blast of previous proportions would be an inappropriate response to such an attack.
"Yes, unicorn soldiers from long past created the 'No-Fly Zone' spell to knock pegasi and griffons alike out of the sky. The spell generates a three-hundred and sixty degree outward-expanding wave of magic that rips through the wing membranes, paralyzing them, which is not fatal in its own but the inevitable drop and inability to get away from enemy forces is what kills them. Attempt it now!"
Samus internally nodded and proceeded to charge the horn back up. She envisioned knocking all air-combatants out of the sky and once she could perfectly concentrate and visualize the action, the spell released itself. A massive, 'hollow’' pop sounded, in its wake a bright yet transparent teal force-field expanded out in a circle with the horn at its center. True to her word, all airborne Changelings that attempted to intercept either the Warhorse or friendly forces were violently thrown about in the sky before dropping helplessly to the ground. Those that weren’t dispatched by the fall would be overwhelmed by advancing Magickakorps and Federation Troops.
“Well done, Samus! That most likely took over a hundred enemy forces out of combat!”
“I still don’t entirely know what to think about all of this… I’m so used to destroying the giant mechs, not being one,” Samus honestly voiced, taking the first trepidatious step in another trot into the completely open Frozen Overworld. The sheer size of the Warhorse combined with the ease of momentum would ensure that Luna and Samus would leave the Crystal Empire behind in a fairly little amount of time. If that was the case, then the crisis was surely averted and the battle would clearly be drawn elsewhere. All that was necessary was to have the Changelings (hopefully) lead them to their hive.
Another development that came to the forefront was that, while Samus could fire as many projectiles as she had the stamina to cast through the horn, after a while, the horn would refuse to respond for a good while. It appeared that Luna was already noticing this in the commander’s port as well.
“How come I can’t fire continuously?”
“The horn is still mostly metal, unlike the bone and cartilage of an actual organic horn, so to prevent any melting or disfiguring from constant use, it appears a fail-safe was introduced to cut off magical flow so it could cool off… oh my…” Luna explained, but then reacted with subtle surprise as if reading something unexpected.
“What’s wrong?” Samus asked.
“Nothing at all, but the schematics refer to it as the ‘Primary Horn.’” the Princess remarked, staring at the magical diagrams that were fed to her through her own pointed appendage and studying them deeply.
“... Please tell me that’s not an ancient, dirty joke.”
“No, no… I was not able to see anything out of the ordinary at first, but that particular word usage must suggest that somewhere… A-HA!” Luna exclaimed, finding what she was looking for amongst what could be considered a magically-virtual ‘operator’s manual.’ “In addition to the main armament, there exist two secondary horns on either side of the Warhorse’s muzzle. They are smaller, much like an enlarged alicorn horn.”
“So it’s like a coaxial machine-gun… intuitive,” the mentally immersed hunter ‘commented.’
“I suppose, whatever that means,” Luna said. Some new, metallic noise from outside on the muzzle grabbed her attention and she spotted two horns coming into existence on both sides of the muzzle, extending out to about half the length of the mouth. She also noticed that the Changelings were attempting to rally somewhat, and moved into defensive positions to fire upon the Warhorse… though it was negligible as any magical beams that struck it were absorbed into the armor with no damage or ricocheted off. While Samus prefered more of a ‘hands-on’ approach when it came to combat, she had to admit, she could get used to being behind several tons of enchanted armor.
A few-hundred feet farther, they came across the first attempted entrenchment of the Changelings, and for the first time, Samus noticed many of the Drones attempt to take the form of normal ponies and unicorns but the ruse was easily seen through. Before friendly forces caught up, the Hunter decided to test the ‘coaxial-horns,’ which began spitting magical fire at about three rounds a second towards the ground. Each fired simultaneously, Samus spraying the field before her with the deadly equivalent of magical ‘machine-gun fire.’ Hard-magic rounds ripped through exoskeleton like paper and generated shields stood absolutely no chance… entire squadrons were wiped out in seconds, several platoons in well over a minute. The sheer level of destruction this machine was capable of did nothing short of amaze Samus, who could now envision truth when Luna stated that the Warhorse completely routed entire Dragon Hordes.
Pristine white snow was marred with deep-hued green as blood stained the ground from fallen enemies. To say that there was any sort of resistance left would actually be somewhat generous, because once again, the remaining Changelings continued their running retreat, fewer taking flight this time around in fear of getting obliterated much like their other airborne brethren. Samus did well in ceasing her fire and allowing the enemy to gain some distance, as if she annihilated every single Changeling, there would be nothing left to lead her to their hive, which was the ultimate endgoal. This allowed friendly forces to catch up and rally alongside the massive machine, and after taking a small break, the order was given to move forward once again.
As that order to press onward was given, a volunteer reservist unicorn who was part of the second detachment had pulled out a camera to snap a picture of the scene in front of her: Regular Equine troops, Federation Marines, Magickakorps all meshed together as one cohesive unit alongside the ‘Giant Alicorn.’ There were no cliques of ponies and humans merely interacting, rather it was a painted picture of union against a common enemy. Marines helped ponies out of natural trenches, ponies lent helping horns and hooves to exhausted humans, but most of all, they were united; infantry rallied together with the Warhorse.
Little did she know how famous and symbolic that picture would soon become.
“With luck, they shall lead us straight to their hive, but it doesn’t look like we’re headed to the same place you found me in those catacombs. I thought that was close to their hive… or one of them at least?” Luna shook her head.
“No. Those catacombs appeared to be some sort of underground mining operation, not the Hive. Had it been the Hive, the number of Changelings encountered would have been substantially larger,” she explained, which made perfect sense. Another ‘Phazon Mines’ scenario all over again.
Another round from the Main Horn was fired into the retreating Changelings, along with several bursts from the secondary armaments.
“So, we’re just going to be hoping that they don’t all teleport out at some point, and lead us straight there?” Samus asked, starting to find the idea a bit ludicrous, now that she actually gave more in-depth thought to the matter.
“That could also potentially prove to be a problem… however, call it magical intuition from a long life relative to yours, but I have a strong feeling as to where the Hive likely lies, as it adequately explains this obsession and hunger over the Phazon. Fancy a guess as to where that might be?” Luna asked, almost rhetorically as she knew Samus would understand immediately.
“The Impact Crater.”
“The way I observe, we have two options. One, we could follow the remnants of this Changeling force, hope they do not lead us to a dead end nor teleport out at a safe distance; or two, we go on our hunch, destroy this army, and make course straight for the Impact Crater, which would take about an entire day of travel time.”
Samus gave thought to both of the strategies placed in front of her, but it was clear what the right decision would be.
“Technically, my actual assigned mission was to help eradicate the Phazon. Fuck it, let’s hit the Crater and go home,” Samus decided, stopping in her tracks once more to allow Luna to make the necessary arrangements.
“I am not entirely sure if I have mentioned this in passing, but I enjoy the way you think, Samus,” Luna commented before switching to the appropriate communications channels… which were all of them. “All units, this is Princess Luna and there has been a change of plans…”
[The Crystal Empire | Throne Room]
“...the new directive is as follows,” Luna’s regal, highly authoritative and commanding voice sounded through countless radios within the Throne Room which was essentially the de facto command center anyway. Borsig held his hand against the earpiece to ensure he heard clearly, while Celestia, Cadance, and Shining held their hooves to their own respective ears. “We finish off our enemies here, removing the immediate Changeling threat to the Empire, and then Samus and I will turn northward with a reinforced division following behind us towards the Impact Crater. Within the next two days, this will all be over.”
The Lunar Princess’s voice finally cut off, leaving the occupants of the throne room to mull on her decision. While Princess Celestia would normally question her thought process at a time like this, she had to realize that Luna would not make such a decisive move against not only the Changelings, but the Phazon as well, without consultation with Samus. As such, she trusted her sister’s judgement, as long as she made do on her promise to end the fighting as quickly as possible. The white alicorn somberly sighed, having had enough of the destruction and death that engulfed her nation.
“Princess,” a Crystal Guard’s deep voice startled the Solar Alicorn out of her pensive stupor. Turning her attention to him, he gestured over to the throne-room doors, where all six Elemental Bearers had entered through, completely unscathed.
“Twily!” Shining yelled, galloping over to his younger sister’s side and nuzzling her cheek affectionately, a gesture Twilight appreciated more than he would know. Celestia and Cadance also joined them, eager to express their own words of relief at their collective safety. Borsig, however, stayed behind to communicate his findings to the higher authority:
“Admiral Forest, are you getting the battle-feed of this?” the Federation Officer asked via a video transmission on a computer that was brought in for logistics, sending pictures and video-footage taken by his troops straight to the Vogl. A video feed of the Admiral soon popped up on the screen.
“Looking at it right now, Colonel. I must say, when you told me of the Equines having a secret weapon, I certainly didn’t expect something like this,” the Admiral, clad in silver naval-officer’s garb with a corresponding visor-cap, replied. He rested his chin between his thumb and index finger as he carefully studied the footage. His expression was one of gentle fatigue, slight bags having formed under his eyes and facial stubble gracing his normally clean-cut and commanding features.
“None of us did. I don’t even think many of the Equestrians expected that much.”
“What do we know about it?” the Admiral asked, most curious at recent developments due to the tide of the battle turning almost instantaneously. Live footage continued to stream, showing the Warhorse wreaking complete carnage upon enemy forces. All that tried to mount any resistance to it were cut down by a gargantuan blast from the main horn, ripped apart by the rapid-firing secondary horns, or were simply trampled under the massive hooves.
“Other than the easily apparent massive destruction potential and firepower output, the ponies call it the ‘Warhorse.’ Main armament appears to be the large unicorn horn which fires volatile magical rounds, or really whatever the operator wants it to do. It functions like a unicorn would ‘cast magic,’ but for all intents and purposes for us, it’s a high explosive energy weapon. There also exist two secondary ‘horns,’ which appear to act as heavy machine guns.”
“That main armament is most impressive, but what of armor capabilities? It doesn’t seem to look like a glass cannon…” Forest observed, still glued to the video feed.
“All I’ve been able to gather, or anyone here really, is that it’s built of a highly refined steel alloy that we have no knowledge of, apart from magical enhancements or ‘enchantments’ as the ponies call them. Any ability to attack it has been in vain and it remains without a scratch thus far, so one can assume that this mechanoid is at the very least, quite durable. As for specific technical specifications, your guess is as good as mine,” Borsig answered with all the knowledge he could impart. While uncertainty dominated the conversation, it was quite clear that all parties were thoroughly impressed.
“Fair enough, Colonel. I’m gonna forward this to High Command back on Earth and Daiban. I know quite a few people in the upper ranks that would be interested in seeing this, including the Chairman,” the Admiral commented, moving things around on his own computer and typing in commands that sent the battle-feed away to its intended recipients.
“Very well, sir. As well, with the emergence of the Warhorse, offensive action is planned towards the Phazon Impact Crater. Samus will be able to deal with it but in order to give her as much time and breathing room as possible, we may need some more boots on the ground. How’s the battle with the Pirates going?”
“We’ve destroyed what we could of enemy ground forces that were retreating back to their ships and we’re gaining the upper hand on their fleet in orbit. So… that actually frees up quite a few ground forces for a last operation. What do you need, Borsig?” Forest asked, folding his arms in front of his chest.
“First and foremost, supplies. Ammunition, food, water, arms, armor replacements, and especially medical supplies. We’ve got a lot of wounded we need evacuated. In terms of forces, anywhere between five-hundred to a thousand Marines should be more than enough with some armor and air support,” the Colonel reasoned after giving his answer a bit of thought. He was sure that the ponies would appreciate the reinforcements. Admiral Forest wordlessly leaned in towards the screen, focusing elsewhere, as he began keying in commands.
“Done. Seven-hundred troops, twenty tanks, and eight fighter-bombers along with all the supply drops you could ever want. How’s that sound?”
“Perfect. Thank you, sir!” Borsig said, standing straight and saluting his superior, the latter returning the gesture with equal vigor.
“Of course. Good luck out there and let me know if you need anything else. Forest, out.”
Once the video-communication was cut off, the Colonel turned his attention to the group of ponies, deciding to interrupt them as he strode over:
“I do apologize if I’m interrupting any tender moments, but I thought all those in charge would be happy to know that I’ve managed to secure reinforcements as well as much needed supplies, both medical and materiel.”
“That’s wonderful news, Colonel! We’re in desperate need for any sort of medical supplies we can get our hooves on right now,” Shining Armor voiced his relief. Cadance echoed his sentiments with a grateful nod of her own.
“Thank you, Colonel,” Celestia also added in with a respectful bow of her head. He gave a friendly salute in return.
“No trouble at all. I’m just glad that these six...” Borsig gestured to the Elemental Bearers. “... made it back safely.”
“Okay… what in Tartarus that? Twilight finally voiced, catching a glimpse at the live battle-feed and seeing the Warhorse for the first time.
“Somewhat of a long story, but we can explain a little later. Right now, we just need to get you all situated,” Cadance answered. It was apparent that the tide of battle had clearly turned, so that left just one question that needed to be answered:
“So… what now, everypony?” Applejack piped up, wondering where they all went from this point on. Celestia spared another glance at the battle-feed before she answered:
“For us in this room, as of right now, it is time to wait a little while. The next plan of action is out of our hooves until Samus and Luna get closer to the Meteor’s Impact Crater. Either way, within the next two days, we will most likely all have to move up as well. When this is finished, the Elements of Harmony will need to be returned to their physical forms.
“So we’ll get our Elements back?” Rainbow Dash questioned.
“Yes. When the final moment passes, whatever that may mean and whenever that may be, Samus will no longer require them.”
“I just hope she’ll be okay…” Fluttershy added softly, ever worrying about their new friend. The Solar Alicorn smiled, pleased at her concern and living up to her Element through it all.
“She will be just fine. And when Samus emerges after defeating our foe and the Phazon, as a hero she shall return to our warm, grateful, and friendly embrace,” she assured them all, which led to them all looking forward to the near future.
“And a PARTY!!” Pinkie Pie jumped up suddenly, startling the humans around her even more when confetti exploded outward from her body seemingly from nowhere. Borsig visibly recoiled and bore a look of acute confusion. The other Elements, as well as Celestia, Cadance, and Shining seemed to not react at all. The former, however, gave an amused chuckle.
“Yes, Pinkie Pie. You’ll get to throw a grand party.”
[Frozen Overworld]
CV-Squad and any other surrounding soldiers stumbled as another round fired from the Warhorse’s main armament impacted the ground a few hundred feet away. It did little to stem their advance though, as morale had shot through the roof once the giant mechanoid made its presence known on the battlefield. Snowfall had picked up and with the battle raging around, effective view-range on the ground was quickly dropping. Magic and hard-light rounds were being traded from both sides of the ‘white veil,’ though any Changeling fire was of course, green, while friendly forces had a multitude of colors, creating yet another somewhat of a deadly light show.
Using the Warhorse as a rally point with the loss of vision for the infantry resulted in casualty figures dropping sharply. As well, any wounds that were being sustained tended to not be life threatening. Nevertheless, as a consequence to the initial stages of the battle, the number count of the friendly forces was still fairly low by comparison. Even so, the veil had its own problems other than the inhibition of sight: Single Changelings were cloaking themselves, evading the Warhorse, and attacking lone troopers before they themselves got killed. Thus, even though there was a clear advantage to be pressed, all troops, human and pony, were on edge.
“Come on, guys! They’re on the run!” Jacob urged onward, trudging in point position through the thicker snow. Nathan and Windfire took positions on either side while Starry and Radiance teamed together: Radiance would spot with magically augmented thermal vision to see the enemy while Starry would shoot with her loaned rifle. As well, Constance was helping to rally pony reservists and other Magickakorps into makeshift squadrons and Sydney teamed up with Arianna, both carrying the heavy weapons.
“Reunited and you’re already making me carry the heavy shit, I see!” Sydney yelled out in response, hoisting the heavy machine gun on her right shoulder, the bipod having fallen loose and swinging against her breast plate with every step through the thickening snow. Arianna had taken a knee to take a shot through the ‘veil,’ using the aid of her thermal scope. All faces were obscured by either silver armor and blue, opaque glass or black armor and black glass… yet all facial expressions could easily be interpreted amongst each other.
“Look on the bright side!” Radiance called back. “At least that means you don’t get to take full point!”
“That’s not an advantage right now, Radiance!” Constance commented. “The Changelings are artists at stealth!” The Warhorse continued to move forward, firing either from the Main Horn or with the secondaries, generating near-constant noises of battle along with its steps. Both sides, though they could not see each other fully (aside from augmented vision capabilities), continued to exchange fire. Starry had scored another kill on a Soldier Changeling with Radiance’s help when an unlucky Marine got struck in the gut by a hard-magic round.
“Ach... AAAAHHH!” he screamed out, dropping his weapon and lurching forward into the snow whilst clutching his wound as hard as he could. Starry and Radiance looked to each other for a split second before sprinting into action, the former sheathing her weapon on her back. The two crowded around the wounded, moaning Marine and flipped him as gently as they could onto his back.
“You’re gonna be alright!” Radiance assured the faceless Marine as he attempted to cope with the pain. The two unicorns hoisted him up with their magic and did their best to carry him back, his arms draped over their shoulders while they attempted to keep his legs from dragging in the snow and exacerbating his wound. Armor ground against armor as they hefted him away from the front line.
“Come on, big guy… you got this!” Starry encouraged, spotting a Magickakorps medic by a stroke of luck. Without magical stimulants, all unicorns were thoroughly exhausted and as such, the two friends did not have enough to perform any decent healing spells. Thus, they had to find an aforementioned medic that was infinitely more skilled in performing advanced medical magic. Nathan had witnessed the whole ordeal and was gonna move to help, but Arianna beat him to it. She swooped in to help carry the wounded Marine.
“Medic! Over here!” she called out with an appropriate wave of her arm, garnering the black-clad pony soldier. The medic immediately rushed over and they all made a small clearing to lay the Marine down, the former immediately going to work on treatment. All were breathing heavily as a literal weight was lifted off of their shoulders. Starry glanced towards Arianna.
“Thanks.”
“Thank you,” the sniper replied with gratitude for the selfless act of saving one of her own, patting the unicorn on the back of her neck and turning around so she could quickly take her place next to Sydney once more. However, what she saw once she turned around would haunt her for a long time to come.
Sydney, trudging forward and holding up the rear of their original positioning, barely reacted when a cloaked Soldier Changeling revealed itself about ten meters to her left. Her motion sensor had picked it up but her hands were occupied in lugging the heavy machine gun, so she had no ‘actionable’ weapon.
“SYDNEY!” Arianna frantically yelled out as she aimed and steadied her rifle as quickly as she could.
The moment Syd looked to her left, her eyes widened and she completely froze as she spied the massive Changeling with a charged horn. A high-velocity magical round struck her straight in the side of the neck.
“UUUAAAHHH!!” Sydney’s shrill cry pierced through each one of her squad-mates as the moment unfolded in a blink of an eye. Jacob, Nathan, and Windfire immediately turned to see Sydney get shot and careen onto her back by the force of the impact. Just a moment too late, a hard-light round went straight through the head of the offending Changeling, essentially blowing it off and the carcass dropping lifelessly.
“SYD!!!” Nathan, Arianna, and Jake called out in horror simultaneously. Ari, Radiance, and Starry were the first upon their friend’s body, the young human woman unsure of where to start placing her hands. She quickly decided to get her friend’s helmet off.
“GET A MEDIC!” She yelled to Constance, who had just come onto the scene. She quickly nodded and sped off. Not even a couple of seconds later, the others were by her side.
“Syd! Talk to us!” Jacob’s thoughts began to assume the worst, extreme distress consuming him as he feared that she got killed under his command. She did not respond immediately. “Is she…?” he did not get to finish his sentence as Arianna removed Sydney’s helmet, which elicited a pained cry from the questionably wounded soldier. Partial relief washed over everyone’s (and everypony’s) veiled faces. Sydney, however, continued moaning and growling through bared teeth, the smallest trickle of blood oozing out onto the snow-covered ground, her face becoming wet with her tears and snow that melted on her skin.
“Hold on, Syd, help’s coming!” Nathan pleaded, not knowing how mortally wounded she was since some seared and destroyed under-layer still covered the wound. Before they could truly check, Constance returned with another unicorn medic.
“Sydney! I swear to shit if you die on me…!” Arianna nearly yelled in anger and a mix of other painful emotions after just witnessing one of her best friends take what looked like a fatal shot. The Magickakorps medic wormed her way through and was able to use precision magic to cut and peel back the fractured pieces of under-layer that were covering the impact site (much to the painful chagrin of Sydney), finding a burned but not a piercing wound. There were two lacerations that trickled a tiny amount of blood, but the main wound was a burn, and as such, was cauterized.
“The shot didn't go through her. Burned her skin pretty nicely but she’ll be just fine,” the medic announced, beginning to apply a pain-killing spell after propping her head up on her helmet. All let out deep breaths that they were holding and Arianna rested her face in her hands in pure, unadulterated relief. Sydney’s crying and groaning died down as the pain-killing spell slowly but surely took effect.
“Looks like the Changeling fired right after coming out of another spell, so it wasn’t a fully charged round,” Windfire commented, thinking back to the previous incident of her surviving getting thrown out of the dropship. “All things considered, I can’t tell whether she's extremely lucky or unlucky...”
Arianna wasn’t taking her eyes off of her friend, who was much more calm now that the magic had taken it’s full effect. The medic was currently treating the magical burn with some unknown spell and Sydney finally opened her eyes, seeing all of her friends plus their new unicorn squad-mates around her. Her eyes, however, rested on Arianna, becoming much more… sultry looking.
Ari cocked her head at the bedroom eyes, as did the others.
“Ari… my heeeeroooooo…” she spoke with a seductive, yet completely joking tone. Arianna threw her hands up in anger and frustration. Nathan attempted to suppress his laughter, as did a few of the others, though mostly in elation that she was not only alive, but nearly her normal self. Sydney giggled at her reaction, though quickly regretted it as the pain-killer magic did not cover her that much.
“I’m sorry, Ari… I couldn’t resist,” she softly added, recovering from that spell of deep pain.
“Fuck you, you fucking... fuck!” Arianna yelled at her on her feet, pointing down to her to emphasize her current thoughts. “I thought you were dying, you bitch!” Clearly, Arianna was not in the mood for any jokes. Jacob and the others kept silent, allowing the two of them to have one of their ‘best friend moments,’ though that did not prevent them from grinning under their helmets that Sydney was alive and well, and could easily be patched up with medical magic.
“L-Like I’d leave you alone with these…” Syd weakly gestured to Nathan and Jacob. “...twats.” She quickly motioned towards Jacob: “Respectfully, sir.”
“Oh don’t start the ‘sir’ crap right now,” Jake replied, rolling his eyes. Arianna chose not to reply to that, still somewhat irritated. The unicorn medic finished her work right then:
“Alright, you’re good to go. I was able to heal what I could of the affected area but the rest you’ll have to let heal on its own. The pain-killing magic should remain for that duration, though, so it shouldn’t cause you too much trouble.”
“Thanks, doc,” Sydney thanked the medic, willing energy back into her body in order to turn onto her front, supporting herself with her arms as she slowly began to stand up.
“Not a problem. Stay safe out there!” the medic replied before galloping elsewhere where her services might be needed. Constance handed Sydney’s helmet to her and she gently placed it back over her head as Nathan helped her stand up completely.
“Alright, I’m good! I’m good…” She moved towards the heavy machine gun that she dropped but stopped herself mid-motion.
“Screw you all, I ain’t carrying that anymore,” Syd decreed, equipping her rifle off of her back. The others this time could not help but laugh.
“Deal,” Jake affirmed, all of them forming up and walking forward towards the frontline, quite ready to get on with finishing off the Changeling force before they followed the Warhorse north.
They all protectively stood a bit closer to Sydney this time around, especially Arianna. The latter huffed amusedly internally.
Bitch.
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Fantastic job on these chapters!
)
I love to see this story add chapters to the "unread" section because then I get to read them
(cool how that works right?
Perfect music to go with this:
Do you have difficulty killing characters off? This is war, after all, and killing a character is not only suitable, but a useful way to set the mood.
Other than that, fantastic job.
Damn...you really know how to write epics.
And I want to play controlling the Warhorse. That would be a fun rail shooter segment.
5619857 Not at all, if I was going to, now would not be the time. It would've seemed almost planned if Syd died right here, considering all the shit that happened to her. Tried to add a false sense of doom.
From previous stories (and stories that I have not published here), my friends have a figurative 'mural' dedicated to the characters that I've created, that I've killed off... it's quite substantial. So in fact, it's more of a cutback, per se. Besides, there's more effect if the readers grow to love the character before they get offed, because I am kind of an asshole.
Warhorse: 2 Gatling guns + a Canon that fires anything you want = 100 TONS OF BADASSNESS
Haha an update, love it my good sir. Brilliant work that keeps em coming back for more (and keep rereading it d'oh). Gotta love the warhorse, hopefully nothing catastrophic happens to it. *epic foreshadowing*
5619878
So I see. In that case, you're doing it right, although I believe the readers may be suitably attached to your characters by now.
5619880
More like autocannons. Gatling guns have massive rates of fire, generally between ~67 and ~167 rounds per second (4,000 to 10,000 rounds per minute), depending on caliber. The secondary horns fire at 3 rounds per second (180 rpm), which is around the same rate as a 40mm autocannon.
5620002
Killing a main character off this late in the story would be too cliche anyway. Wait until shit really hits the fan in the sequel, then we'll talk lol
You're referring to vulcan guns or mini-guns. The 'Gatling' gun was the first civil-war weapon that could act like a machine gun by crank operation, it had nowhere near that rate of fire.
5619870 Glad this chapter turned out alright, then!
5620043
The Vulcan (m61) and the Minigun (m134) are specific Gatling weapons. The strictest definition would be multiple barrel rotary guns, but they are frequently classified as Gatling guns or Gatling-type guns, as Richard Gatling was the pioneer of the design. Plus, it's easier than saying "multiple barrel rotary gun."
You also have single barrel rotary cannons (there aren't any in sub-cannon caliber, as far as I know), which are called revolver cannons. Instead of what is essentially multiple spinning guns, it has a single barrel with multiple chambers, like a revolver. It can't reach or maintain the same rate of fire as a Gatling gun, but it doesn't take as long to get up to speed and is overall lighter.
5620260 Oh yeah I forgot, the rule of Foreign Shower Controls: one mm to the left is Magmoor Caverns while one mm to the right is Phendrana. I see what you did there
Glad you're enjoying it so far!
5620376 Lol have a peek at a couple of chapters! See if it's anything ya like!
Soooo... Phazon corrupted changelings... That can't be good...
Unless you're in a gaint fricking alicorn mech!
Unless the phazon corruption gave the Queen enough power to violate conservation of mass, and shape shift into something the same size as said mech...
Did gonna be good.
Flammen, I apologize in advance for this, but I told you before, I am a bit of a neurotic editor. There might be things other than these that I noticed, but let slide because it's not worth it to change it after it's released. Had I noticed them in a pre-release state, I probably would have corrected them.
This should be "say again;" in a military context, "repeat" is an instruction to artillery units to repeat their last firing. Even in a situation where no artillery is in play, "say again" is proper voice procedure.
Also, Borsig should identify himself by his callsign when making a radio call like that, so it should start with "[Unit] Actual to all units..."
A weird extra space here between 'chase 'em' and 'back.'
"The" should be capitalized, as it starts a new sentence. If it started something like "...the female soldier responded, saluting and..." having it in lower case would be correct, but not as it stands.
I'm noticing throughout your writing an odd tendency when you split dialogue in the middle. See:
Notice how after the first comma break, you don't have a 'speaking verb' like "continued," "responded," "said," et cetera? It's idiosyncratic enough for me to notice it, but I'm not sure it's necessarily wrong. Something to keep in mind. It's also inconsistent, as can be seen a little further on.
'Whom' is inappropriate here. That's the objective case, which is inappropriate because "friendly forces" is the subject of the verb "joined," and so it needs the subjective form 'who.' Here's a quick and dirty tip for figuring it out; if you can subsitute the name for who/whom, use 'who.' I.E.: "The friendly forces immediately joined the counterassault." Since that works, 'who' is the appropriate pronoun. See this link http://web.ku.edu/~edit/whom.html for more details.
Celestia's inferential abilities are doing something for her, are serving her.
Lose 'accordingly;' it doesn't serve the sentence.
Unless Samus was speaking without pause, slap a comma in there. I'm not entirely sold on how you start the text, but I'll let it slide. Ditch the parantheses and set that part off with double dashes. "Conceded to abide by" should be "conceded to."
This should be in its entirety.
This feels awkward. One thing, "to which...complied" is inappropriate; you don't comply to something, you comply with something, so it should start "...with which all soldiers..." For the second thing, "...with a tenfold boost in morale" doesn't feel right to me. I can't explain why, exactly, but I've learned to trust my editorial instincts, so I'd replace it with "with freshly-renewed vigor."
Soldiers is misspelled.
Numbers don't get hyphenated like this; this should be "three hundred and sixty-degree..."
A few things with this one. 'Air-combatants' doesn't take a hyphen. Two, the spell released itself? I was under the impression that spells required activation by the mage. Three, why the scare quotes around 'hollow?'
'Trepidatious' is a word in the same sense that "ain't" and 'brung' are words; a more technically-correct word might be 'hesitant' or 'tremulous.'
This should be "fairly short;" 'little,' while it is used in some contexts, doesn't feel like it flows quite right here.
Machine gun doesn't take a hyphen, and no need for the scare quotes; Samus is commenting, not "something sort of like commenting but not."
See above re: numbers; no hyphen needed.
Three rounds per second, or 180 rounds per minute, is actually really slow for a machine gun, and about at the level of a fast semi-automatic rifle. The M2 .50cal Browning fires at about 750 rounds per minute for the AN/M2, or about 12 rounds per second. The M240B ranges from 750 up to 950.
This should be "made good on."
Naval officer doesn't take a hyphen. I can't say anything about visor-cap; that might well be correct, as I assume it's something you've invented.
No scare quotes needed here.
Any attempt.
See above re: numbers.
Above again re: numbers, and "fighter-bombers" is actually rendered in text as "fighter/bombers," although spoken aloud it sounds like a hyphen. There should also be a comma after "fighter/bombers."
"Okay...what in Tartarus is that?" This slipped by your editors somehow.
This doesn't seem quite right, but I can't articulate why. A plan can't be out of one's hands; a situation can be, or there can just not be a plan yet, but a plan can't be out of hands.
I'd change this to "effective visual range," or "effective sight range."
As a consequence of, and it should be numerical count.
Drop 'onward,' unless you say "urged them onward."
Scare quotes again, and unless Sydney were carrying the machine gun in a really jacked-up fashion (how was the bipod smacking her in the chest?), she could most likely engage the Changeling with it.
You don't need the second 'a,' and should write "...finding a burned, but not piercing, wound."
Removing the rifle from her back. Equip means to put on.
oh god please don't hurt me Flammen, I'll be good
5620723 Most interesting, never would've guessed some of those, while others make sense once you pointed them out in a different perspective. Informative and insightful, but let's save this for the next story when you are my actual editor. Then I want you to rip the rough drafts to shreds! If it's a major problem though, do point it out at this time, or simply PM me everything you think I done goof'd!
But goddamn I'm impressed, that took some motherfucking dedication and time to point out all of that. Such minor things that could really make a difference.
I like this plan. Simple and to the point.
I've got to wonder, would the War Horse be more effective with Twilight helping Luna instead of Samus????
And,as a Hypothetical scenario: if all the Mane 6 had their Elements, Twilight was taking Samus's place, and they used the Elements of Harmony... would the resulting Harmony Blast cover all of Equestria?????
That's like the most confusing way possible to think of it.
Rear-front, rear-front, rolling one side forward at a time, is a natural crawling motion for a human -- it doesn't quite start on the same step, but it's the same loop.
5620758 If you say 'rear-front' that's a little ambiguous. Do you mean on the same side or opposite? If you imply a rear step and then a front step of the same side, that's not how quadrupeds walk.
5620745 Probably! Though with the parameters that I've set up, remember the Warhorse recognizes alicorn makeup and magic only. Luna is an alicorn, Samus received suitable magical abilities via the Alicorn Battle Suit, but Twily isn't an alicorn in this story.
5620766 But Samus has ALL the Elements... so in theory she could do an entire planet Harmony Wave... right?????
And, another hypothetical situation: War Horse vs Full Power Tirek with Princess Twilight replacing Samus, then with Rainbow Power. Who wins????
5620740 O7 Aye aye!
5620760
It is the same pattern, just offset by one step.
left-front
right-rear
right-front
left-rear
left-front
First four lines are what you said, and last four lines are what I said. The pattern is the same, just starting on a different foot -- and the latter would be a more natural push-off for someone used to bipedal movement.
Hmm. You know the Changelings canonically only seem to use non-lethal force. They need living captives to feed on their love. Even the royal gurds were captured, not killed. Even Celestia and the Elements.
So I am guessing the Phazon is a replacement energy source and this invasion is entirely about revenge for the past rather than that the chngelings are just using phazon to fuel their usiusual activities.
I mean a dead drone is one less mouth to feed while a dead enemy is 10 less mouths fed.
Changeling tactics seem to be infiltration, mass invasion (zerging), confusion via shapeshifting, and subdual via slime.
5620042
You...one uped me?!?!
Came across this a while back, and I have to say, this is FUCKING AWESOME.
You've made Samus into a multi-faceted, likable character. Not to mention the number of great original characters. A great mix of action, drama, and humor, I read at least the first ten chapters in one sitting. One of the greatest things in my opinion, though, is how you keep the focus on Samus. It's a Metroid story with MLP elements (no pun intended), not the other way around.
Love what you've done with the characters, world, and lore of both MLP and Metroid. Doing awesome so far, can't wait to see what comes next!
5627539 Wow, thank you!! I'm super glad that you're enjoying yourself thus far
. And Jesus, all of that in one sitting?? That's awesome haha. I look forward to your thoughts on the future chapters! 
5627582 No prob! And looking back, might not have been the first ten.
But at least the first five.
5627643 Lol that's still a lot of words! We're coming up on the end real soon, so be sure to stay tuned
5627680
I do hope there will be a sequel to it because I hate to see the story end here.
So the story is almost over, huh?
Why there isn't a changeling check spell being ran in the headquarters every hour on the hour I don't know.
That being said: this is metal. Giant warhorse wrecking your shit! Good times.
bobandgeorge.com/comics/archives/metroid/Metroid039.png
Also: bobandgeorge.com/comics/archives/metroid/Metroid196.png
ya mean like THIS!?
I'm curious, will Dark Samus make an appearance eventually?
5678765 Good question! And the answer is categorically 'no.'
Doing so would violate canon. Remember Dark Samus was 'defeated' on Aether, but her remains were scooped up by a Pirate Warship scavenging what was left of the Phazon. That's where she rebuilt herself and took much of the Pirate forces under her control, which was the basis of Prime III. This story takes place between Echoes and Prime III, ergo no Dark Samus
5678908 That still leaves room for foreshadowing though. Granted, the Pirates seem to be pretty much written out of the story by this point, but by this time in the canon, she probably would already have some position within the Pirates.
5697630 I don't take the COMPLETELY invulnerable to everything but ice completely 100% seriously. Then by that logic you could nuke the place and it would survive. On Tallon IV, sufficient concussive force also allowed you to deal with metroids fairly reasonably. I like the interpretation that you could shoot it with a rifle, but it would be a massive pain in the dick due to the sheer resilience of the creature.
5697727
Perhaps I should better rectify that to invulnerable to all conventional weaponry but cold-based ones. Other M, for however much anyone considers that 'canon' for Metroid, featured this as a major plot point. Without the weakness to ice, the larval Metroids were for all intents and purposes a death sentence for Samus.
Concussive weaponry requires repeated and fairly high yield uses to be effective, and even then not against all strains. Destroying the nuclei within the Metroids also will kill them, but damaging them through the membrane requires specialized targeting and weaponry (x-ray and nova beams, respectively).
Really it depends on the strain of Metroid, which you as the author have control over. Traditionally, however, it's suicide to engage one without cold-based weaponry.
well i got the email for the update... but it dosnt appear to be there...
5728108 Because i dun' goofd. I moved to edit the chapter and accidentally clicked publish. Wasn't even a finished product, so i revoked it, obviously.
HOWEVER, to not dampen your mood, the chapter is done and awaiting final christening as of RIGHT NOW
5728111 I eagerly await the chapter!
I can haz hypermodez?
5728111 I kno, I saw the blog post a little bit after i posted the comment
it was right at 3:00 in the mornin when i got it too. wouldnt have cared if i missed even more sleep if i read it lol.
5728127 Yis. We can haz hypermodez.
41.media.tumblr.com/43131031f5c3d8c389a3acb31d498957/tumblr_npc8reONeg1s8kigbo1_1280.jpg
Close enough.
Source, for any who want the blog
This chapter seems to give me a mental image similar to that of the battle of hoth, with the warhorse playing the role of an AT-AT
When the iron horse comes into the field this song i think fits perfectly
MARV + Mammoth MK II + Warhorse = AWESOME