A warrior was brought from his ravaged home to Equestria to protect it. Can he?
A warrior was brought from his war ravaged home to Equestria to protect it. Can he? Can he protect instead of kill?
Can he feel love again?
Will he love her? Or will he abandon?
This is my second fic, it's just something I randomly thought up one afternoon, so I put it to figurative paper. As always, please rate and comment. I hope this tickles your fancy ^_^. All credit for the cover goes to Coco-mix, thanks a heap =D.
What is love? Is it merely a chemical process in our brain and body that urges us to seek out a mate and keep others away? Or is it our heart and soul urging us to find the perfect somebody and protect them from harm? Or is it that urge we get to find someone to hold? To feel important, to keep the chills of winter and bad things at bay? To be wanted. Needed.
The warm closeness of a loved one is the best thing in the world, because it makes you feel like you're appreciated in a way that nothing else can replicate, it has the ability to slow time to a crawl just so you can gaze into their mind and soul. And when two are made one, that is when you both truly feel as one. Like nothing in the universe can separate you. Not for anything.
It's a magic that cannot be ever explained.
"I love you".
------
It's a strange thing war. It drives good men into committing unforgivable crimes.
And yet, it's in our nature. To kill and conquer for seemingly no reason.
The year is 2034. And the planet is ravaged by nuclear war. The surviving nations mainly consist of America, Eastern Asia, Australia and a small patch of western Europe. We've been fighting for nearly ten years. And it's a free for all.
Nobody knows who started it all, there was just one systematic strike. Leveling all major city centers, minor countries and states. Russia and Eastern Europe where hit first, followed by Africa, the Arab countries, India... Virtually everywhere. Because of the now intolerable levels of radiation in the atmosphere, battles between the surviving nations are fought in massive suits of battle armor. The lightest can weigh as much as a few hundred kilograms, the heaviest can exceed 20 tonnes. Without them, battles couldn't be fought and we would succumb to radiation poisoning.
About a week ago, I woke from unconsciousness as a result of taking on an artillery cannon. The cannon came out worse, thankfully the round was a dud. After waking, I made my way back to the base Red Glory, home of the ANZAC Avengers, only to find it a smoking hole in the ground.
Over the next few days I walked from the remains of the base, towards my old home in the southwest of Western Australia. I just wanted to go and see what had happened to my old way of life, as I was once a care free farm kid, dairy to be exact. My old hometown of Northcliffe, once a quiet town of a thousand or so denizens was now devoid of all life. The old pub where I had my first legal beer was covered in nuclear snow, the old shop and post office were stripped bare of all essentials. Then I reached my old home.
The corpses of the cattle I once fed, milked and cared for littered the padocks. Their irradiated bones almost glowing a ghostly pale white. The house had seen better days, considering it looked like someone had used it as a fort. As I stomped past the house, I took note of the old metal tractor seat strung from a tree via some old rope. God I loved that swing, I had my first kiss on it. My old cubby house was missing its roof and half the slats from the walls, and my sand pit just continued to bring forth my childhood memories. With a sigh I steered my 18 tonne Goliath battle armor further up the driveway towards the dairy.
As I plodded past the tractors I once called home for some seasons, I brushed my Goliath's unforgiving steel fingers against the bonnets of the once powerful workhorses. My battle suit's four meter height advantage made the old agricultural beasts look like small toys, then I moved to our oldest machine, a Fordson Dexter. This was the first machine I learned to drive on, the first tractor I worked with. I suppressed some painful tears as I gently picked up the old rust colored antique, brushing off the ash that had accumulated on it before gently placing it in its original spot.
The dairy had all the useful salvage taken from it, mostly plastics and steel with the computers used to run it, this included the vacuum pumps, vats and power generators. A sudden sound caught my attention, bringing my 30mm rotary cannon from its hatch on the right arm and bringing the six barreled monster up to speed, while sliding the three meter telescopic titanium blade from the left wrist. Pirouetting the massive war machine on its giant heel to bring my weapons to bear on a most unusual sight. A small cobalt blue horse sporting a horn sprouting from the center of it head and wings splayed in a defensive manner.
After what I determined what I was looking at, I brought my weapons back into their respective housings, trying to soften the behemoths presence to the small being. To be honest, through all the radiation, through all the warfare, through EVERYTHING that's happened over the past five years, I'm honestly stumped as to how this little creature has survived. I'm amazed as to how ANYTHING has survived longer than a few months in the radioactive soup, humans have only just BARELY survived as is. Nothing should be able to survive without a suit of some sort.
"Greetings warrior". Never in my life have I ever been so terrified. Drawing my titanium sword with a wave of my suits gigantic arm, I held it menacingly in front of me. "Be calm, I do not intend to harm you. Instead, I offer you salvation. An escape from this world, but for a price". This had me intrigued, so I brought the sword back into its housing and relaxed the machine once more, and activated the external speaker.
"What price?", my voice all but boomed out into the dead expanse.
"Protect my world. Protect it from all evil".
After a seconds thinking, I had made up my mind. "Do it, I have no family or friends anymore".
"Prepare...".
------
Applejack had just finished her days work. She was currently dragging a cart laden with apples back to the barn. Her body burned, and her muscles ached. But it was a good ache, an ache which can only be brought on by hard work. Hard, satisfying work. She had worked from before dawn, and it was now quickly becoming dark.
As she was making her way back, a small globe of blue light sprouted from thin air, and quickly became bigger and bigger. So big it could swallow the barn with more to spare. "Ah don't like the looks of this," she quietly mused to herself. And when the orb had grown to its zenith, there was an ear splitting bang. And as she brought her hoof from her face, she saw a titan.
More than 15 feet tall, made of black metal with flames painted on its giant metal fists, blue glowing eyes on its small domed head with bright yellow lights flowing in trails from its neck to the rest of its body like arteries. On its broad chest stenciled in white where five stars. The four biggest where painted in the shape of a loose diamond, and the smallest was placed off center above the lowest star. And in the center of the diamond, was an elaborate picture of a rising sun with a crown sited inside said sun. Applejack started to slowly back away, but as she did, the beast slumped over as if in pain and steam began to pour out of unseen cracks in its chest.
Then slowly, the entire top of the chest and head split away, revealing a much smaller thing inside. The creatures skin was almost pure white, it had no fur apart from a short mane on its head, and had long arms that ended in appendages that looked the part of claws though more rounded and dexterous. The creature then lifted its head to the twilight sky, and took in a deep breath, as if it had never breathed before. Then it started to laugh, first a chuckle, then a good natured, then to a hysterical level where it was trying to cheer at the same time. Then it leaped out of its gigantic suit, making the newcomer more along the lines of over five feet tall instead of 15.
The creature then knelt on the ground and started to cry, it wasn't a sorrowful cry, but a joyous one. Then it laid its small beady eyes on her, then began to run towards her. Applejack started to panic, what if it's dangerous? I can't run with this cart on!, then it skidded to her and grabbed her in a big hug.
"Uh... Howdy ther'?".
The creature just continued to cry into her shoulder, and Applejack just stood there not knowing what to do. But as she was coming to an idea of what to do, the creature then just let go and started running wildly around the orchid screaming like a young foal.
"AIR! FRESH AIR! NO RADIATION!", and as soon as this now obvious male shouted at nopony in particular, it came to a rest on his knees with his head skyward and arms splayed. And it simply yelled in joy of its obvious new freedom. Just how long was he in that thing?
And so Applejack unhitched the cart, and slowly made her way over to the unknown ape like creature who just sat there with as smile so big, it would make a certain pink mare look tame, "Can ah help ya mister?".
The creature just smiled at her, "My names Jake. What's yours?".
The Apple family was gawking in utter surprise at just how much food Jake could shovel into his scrawny, pale body. Anypony would think that he hasn't eaten for years, let alone seen sunlight. Jake had told the small farming family about the war that had consumed the earth, and how the nuclear winter would last for another million years. And how he was conscripted at the age of 19, given the very same battle suit kneeling just outside the barn, and was told to simply kill any who didn't bear the the insignia of the ANZAC Avengers. Very rarely getting out of its cockpit, unless when he was at Red Glory base. Of course, this had the older ponies a little bit more than nervous about the war machine just outside their house. Applebloom on the other hand, hoof?, was simply awed by the armored titan. Just rattling off questions faster than an Enforcer autocannon.
"Mister Jake? How fast does that suit thingy of yours go?".
"Applebloom, ah think Jake has had quite enough of you asking questions", Applejack scolded.
"Nah, it's alright", Jake said as he finished off his twentieth apple fritter. ".. The mark II GL-7K Goliath Armored Mobility Weapons Attack Platform, or AMWAP, can sprint at speeds in excess of 50 kilometers per hour, and has a cruising speed of about 20 per hour unlaiden", he explained in a text book mater-of-fact attitude.
"That sounds mighty fast Mister Jake, how much does it weigh? 'Cus ah mean, how can somethin' so big run so fast?".
"'Bout 18 tons last I checked". And Jake simply smiled at the shocked filly, whose jaw had hit the floor with an audible 'thunk'. "The reason why it can move so quickly and efficiently, is because it's been beefed up with an artificial muscle known as myomer. Myomer are microscopical poly-acetylene tubes filled with an acti-strandular fiber. These fibers are created by mixing biologically engineered bacteria with specific polymers within the tubes. An electric current is sent through these tube, causing the fibers to arrange themselves into a complex nano-structure similar to the proteins myosin and actin that allow biological muscles their movement. The rest is just sensors, actuators, the power cores and armor.
"The sensors I just talked about are there mostly for just general movement, they are inbuilt into the compartment where my legs sit during combat. The sensors pick up minor twitches in my legs muscles, and the computer interprets them into movement for the legs. The arm control, and the suits wrists and fingers, use control yokes that I put my arm into. Kind of like a glove. And to maintain the machines balance, the flexibal spinal column that runs up my back shoots a special kind of needle into the base of my neck. That needle taps into my neurological system giving me the ability to command what I want the computer to do with just a thought, as well as keeping it balanced on its legs". Jake finished this information overload with yet another glass of apple juice. "Alright my turn. Where am I, and where can I go to ask for asylum?".
"You're in the state of Equestria on the planet Equis, and as for your question for asylum. The princesses should be able tah help y'all with that. So ah recommend goin' tah see Applejacks friend Twilight," the burly red stallion Bic Mac said.
"Sounds like a plan, Boss. I hope you don't mind my asking given how much you've done for me so far, but would you happen to have any tools that I may borrow?"
"Tools? Why would y'all need tools?" Applejack asked.
"Well for starters, my right arm blade won't extend more than a few foot, making it as effective as a butter knife. That and I have some minor maintenance to perform," Jake cooly explained.
"Wait, that thing has swords? As in long sharp bits of steel meant fer hackin'?"
"Yyyeap, though they're more along the lines of titanium with a depleted uranium core for extra punch rather than steel and three meters long. Designed em myself".
"Depleted uranium? Why would y'all put that in a sword. It's just too dang heavy." Big Mac said with a hint of disbelief.
"For that exact reason, the sheer weight of the uranium along with my suits strength and the titanium edge, can cut a Diamond Back clean in half if hit right. And being an urban brawler, those things have nearly twice the amount of armor my Goliath has".
Then at this point, little Applebloom piped up, "What's the load capacity of that things arms, and how much does each sword weigh?". The way in which this youngster had asked such questions shocked Jake. He honestly though she wouldn't be comprehending anything he had said.
"The load capacity is roughly eight tons for each arm, and both swords weigh about three tons a piece. Why do you ask?".
Applebloom's face went slack, "Wow... That, is a lot of force. If y'all were to swing those things hard enough, the density of those swords combined with the strength of your suit thingy, thats almost..." she trailed off as if crunching some unseen numbers within her little head. "Celestia slap me stupid! That's almost double the weight of your suit at the point of contact. Added to the fact the edge being made from such a durable metal as TITANIUM, were the edge of your swords tah make contact to a piece of inch thick steel, it'd leave a clean cut like a hot knife through butter!".
"Well slap ME stupid, it seems you have quite the little engineer here. How old are you?".
"Ahm six years old next month," she replied quite proudly.
"How 'bout that. Say, how would you like to come and give me a hand, err, hoof with repairs?".
"Oh boy, can ah sit in the cabin?!".
Jake thought about this for a few seconds, well... she doesn't have the access codes, nor my voice and thumb prints, let alone the right body shape and size to operate it. "Yeah alright, so long as you do as I say and not press any buttons. No matter how big, shiny or otherwise. Do I make myself clear?".
"Absolutly, Mr. Jake. Ahl get the tool box!" and with that, the little bundle of energy raced out the door, with Jake and her older siblings in tow.
"Well ah 'spose ah should get Twilight and Spike. Ahl see y'all in an hour ah guess," Applejack said as she placed her old stetson upon her head, and made a beeline for the village in the distance.
"Welp, see ya at lunch big guy".
"Eeyup".
------
"Applejack, seriously. He could just be an undiscovered sub-species, hardly worth the fuss. Their just wild animals".
"Element of Honesty, Twi. I couldn't lie if mah life depended on it. It's a hoo-man thingy y'all were on about, and it can talk and has a huge machine, ah swear on Grannysmiths grave that's it's most defiantly not a dumb animal. He obviously has some engineering skills," Applejack pleaded.
"I don't care, I just wanna see if that machine is real, it's gotta be awesome. I mean, how often do you see something like that?" the baby dragon pipped up from Twilights back, trying very hard not to hurt her wings with his claws.
"Still, I have my doubts," Twilight finalized as she, Spike and Applejack turned the corner of the barn. The Alicorn and baby dragon's mouths went slack, though the former just froze while the later just said "Wow". There, standing in front of Applebloom stood the mechanical giant Applejack had told her about. Four meters tall, covered in strange pulsating lights and giving a low, more felt than heard, thrum.
"Alright, give it a whirl!" little Applebloom said to the being, before it swung both it's giant, Celestia thick arms, throwing out a pair of flame red three meter long swords. At this point, Twilight's brain had finally caught up, and had decided the outcome this thing. A threat. Twilight charged her horn and threw out a magenta beam of almost pure magical energy at the titans huge chest. When the beam hit, it threw the mountain of metal flying back into the orchid, which landed with a ground shaking BOOM.
"Twilight, what in Tartarus are you doin'?! That's the hoo-man ah told ya about!" Applejack cried.
Twilight was about to reply, when the titan walked from the orchid now sporting a black scorch mark on its chest, an entire apple tree in one of its massive flame painted hands dragging along the ground, and one unfathomably pissed off look. "Spike, get off and hide," the little dragon didn't argue. Twilight widened her stance, and flared her wings in a pathetic attempt at looking menacing. The giant responded in grabbing the tree in both hands, and ripping it in two. Not snapping, but grabbing each end and pulling each end apart. Twilight gave a small whimper at this show of phenomenal strength, then a small hatch on its right forearm opened up and a large round, six barreled object lifted from it and began spinning. The beast then pointed this now obvious weapon at her, and a loud brass voice boomed out from the machine.
As needless as it is to say, Jake was pissed. He had just finished fixing the problem for his right arm blade, after finding out it was an adjustment issue, and had proceeded to make sure it was in working order. Only to get blasted in the chest with god only know what, and have all 18 tonnes of myomer, weapons, armor and surprised pilot, go flying into the apple orchid, smash through several trees and land in a heap several meters away. No, Jake wasn't pissed. He was so furious to the point he was starting to see red. So as he got up, he grabbed hold of the nearest tree next to him, and ripped it from the earth before moving back to the farm yard. And when he got there, he saw a lavender winged unicorn standing in the courtyard with its horn aglow, with wings flayed in a rather pathetic excuse of intimidation. So Jake grabbed each end of the tree in his suits gigantic hands, gripped tightly, and pulled them apart in a shower of splinters before he crushed the remaining halves in the mechanical appendages, now thats how you're supposed to intimidate.
Then as he was still approaching the lavender death beam firing target in his HUD, he pulled out his Dire Wolf autocannon. A six barreled gatling that fired depleted uranium rounds via gauss at over 5000 rounds a minute, in fact that's half the reason as to how his swords contained the supper dense alloy. He simply built up a small stockpile from the bullets that were once lodged in his suits armor. Rather ironic when you think about it, considering that they were once meant to kill him, now they kill FOR him. Jake went ahead and spun the 30mm monster up to firing speed with a dull whirr. "Try it again, I fucking dare you..." Jake said as he thrust the weapon into the ponys face, then it's horn began to glow. And with a flash of light, his mighty Goliath simply and embarisingly, shut down. No sluggishness, no flickering HUD or tingle in his spine. It just simply shut down. Then Jake felt his whole being shift in weight. Forwards. His Goliath fell face first in the dirt, blocking his only means of escape. Thats if he didn't have a means of reserve power, "Computer, reroute power to the limbs".
"Rerouting". Jake sighed in relief as he hadn't completely lost power. All the "heavy" and "assault" class suits thankfully had an independent power source for the life support, the light and mediums didn't have the luxury of recycled air. They only had the old fashioned particle and radiation filters installed as to try and save weight. Not only that, but they weren't ever really used for long range missions like you'd expect, they were only ever used for security and patrols, but they were sometimes used for long range missions and recon, but very rarely. They just never had the range. The heavy and assault were predominantly used for that, the logic being that because they have heavier weapons and armor and carry a larger payload, they would use THOSE for all the long range stuff because they wouldn't need to be rearmed as often. Like shit it did.
Jake rolled the Goliath onto its back and breathed a sigh of relief. Rerouting the sad excuse for power the secondary cell had to anything else than life support, was extremely risky. Just waving an arm and moving a foot was more than enough to drain the cell of anything it had. "Computer, open"... Nothing. "Open"... "Oh come on!". Jake wrestled his legs from their compartment, and kicked the hatch making a loud 'CLONG'. But his effort proved fruitful, as a small stream of light came in from a finely milled crack in the armor plating, "Bingo". Jake got his arms free from the control yokes, and despite how painful it was to do it with out the proper procedure, pulled away from the spinal column and the centimeter long needle in the base of his neck, and forced the hatch open.
Twilight stood there in shock, What have I just done?! It was clearly sapient, not to mention more technologically advanced than ponies. When the behemoth gave her its latest ultimatum, she had used her aura sense to find what was powering the giant. As it turns out, a small but extremely powerful reactor of sorts, and had used her magic to break the reaction, the result of which had caused the giant to seize up and crumple to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. A few moments after, the being had rolled itself onto is back, and not long after that a loud 'CLONG' came from the beast. After several minutes, a large hatch of sorts opened up to reveal a pale, hairless ape climbing out of the giant.
"See, Twilight. Ah told ya it was a hoo-man," Applejack said with just a bit of pride.
Meanwhile, the human had jumped from its mount and had stalked over to the Alicorn, "What in the flying fuck was that for?! First you zap me into this fucking fairy tale you call a dimension asking me to protect it and your fucking people, repair most of the damage on the way trough, then try and fucking KILL ME?! And to top it all off, now I can't protect this place, because my suit IS NOW AN INOPERABLE PIECE OF STEEL AND LEAD!!!... HOW THE FUCK CAN I DO ANYTHING NOW!!!".
Twilight cowered at the humans harsh words. Ordinarily, she would have been beyond fascinated about this particular human, because to her they were just dumb, though socially advanced, pack animals. This on the other hoof, was the most frightening thing she had come across.
"Jus' what in the hay are y'all on 'bout Jake?" Applejack joined. "What do ya mean she zapped y'all here from another dimension?"
At this question, Jake took several deep breaths to calm down. "Ok, I apologize for blowing up like that, but why did you do that... zappy thing to me? All I was trying to do was rectify a problem with one of my swords."
"Hey don't y'all goin' and changin' the subject," Applejack stated.
"Alright, just before I met you AJ, I was visiting my old home. When I got there, I was confronted by one like you," he said as he gestured to Twilight, "Who then asked if I was willing to protect her world. I accepted. And here I am now, asking why in the hell purple here tried taking me out."
"One like me? What color was her coat?" Twilight asked from her still cowering position on the ground.
"It's kinda hard to tell from the HUD, but I would have to say... a dark blue? Cobalt? I don't know. Like I said, it's kinda hard to tell through my HUD."
"Princess Luna? She brought you here? Why would she do that?" Twilight asked again, with a hint of shock on her face.
"So that her name eh? Well like I told you, she approached me and asked if I was willing to protect... Equestria?" he asked to Applejack, who just nodded. "Then she opened a portal, and here I am," he finalized. "Now. Can you answer my question? Why the hell did you try to kill me?"
"Oh... I thought you were going to kill Applebloom," Twilight said with a shy smile.
"Good, that's all I wanted to know. Now, can you please undo what you did my suit, and do you know where I can find a... what was her name again AJ?"
Applejack for her part, just gave an embarrassed grin, "Jake, let me introduce to y'all princess Twilight Sparkle. That friend of mine Big Mac told yer about."
Jake just stood there. Then after a few moments, he lifted his head and looked around awkwardly. "Excuse me for a sec," he said before he turned on his heel 180 degrees so his back was facing the pair. Then he put his hands to his face, and whimpered a little bit while pitching his torso forwards like a bow of shame. "God.. damn it". After a few more moments, he straightened out his body and turned back to the two confused mares. "My apologies once again, princess. What I was going to ask was who I should see about seeking asylum," his face almost redder than Big Mac's coat with embarrassment.
They were brothers. They were a team. They were two of the best pilots to ever come out of the ANZAC Avengers. Carlos and his brother, Jake. They were almost unbeaten in battle, relying on each other for help, and working together for the success of any mission given to them. Known as the Goliath Brothers, they were inseparable on the battlefield, always standing side by side. Carlos's Goliath was a complete opposite from his brothers, being a sleek silver, and brandishing long range weaponry. He was the long range combat specialist, but could prove beyond deadly in close quarters with his Talon rifle, and his suits fists. Jake was the close to medium range specialist. Both revered for their tenacity, and well respected. But that all changed on that fateful day.
"Oi, Jake. How many 'ave you got?" Carlos asked his younger brother as he just finished beating the daylights out of a Fang, a little one tone suit.
Meanwhile, Jake was currently dancing around a pair of heavy Vikings, his own Goliath looking like an 18 tonne ballet dancer. "I'm a little busy over here," he responded as he parred with one of the Vikings with his left hand blade. He responded to this by sweeping his right foot into the Viking's legs, causing it to tumble to the ground. Jake then plunged his left hand blade into the cockpit, killing the pilot instantaneously. Then turned to his right where the second Viking waited, it's name sake double edged ax poised to split him in half. The enemy pilot swung his ax in a downwards diagonal fashion, Fucking idiot, you're not supposed to do that when your opponent has swords, jake thought with a sadistic grin on his face.
Jake thrust his left blade out once again into an out and upward swing that would land it under the ax handle, he continued with this motion as the ax was deflected up and over his head which caused the Viking to stumble. And as he stumbled, he brought his back to Jake who then thrust his right arm blade deep into the armor and out the other side, then Jake pulled out his autocannon and fired a short two second burst into the back of the doomed suit. The Dire Wolf autocannon was designed as a mid range weapon of up to a kilometer, so of course at a range of three inches, his autocannons super dense rounds tore the pilots compartment apart leaving a massive hole in the chest of the now well and truly beyond repair war machine. "Make that about 30 kills so far," Jake finally answered his brother as he pulled out his sword, and retracted his weapons. "How bout yourself?"
Jake then pretended to act like he was rutting, pumping his fists in and out from his mid section, while moving his groin in time with his pumping arms. "Sssssuck it, and don't say it wasn't your fault. You're the one who insisted on chasing that Fang all over the place," Jake said as he pointed a giant steel finger at his brother.
Carlos just waved a metal hand in casual dismissal, "Ah fuck off," he chuckled.
Jake plodded over to his brother and slapped a flame painted hand on his shoulder, "It's alright bro... I'm just better," Jake said with a chuckle. Carlos put a metal hand on Jake's suits head, and promptly gave him a shove with a hearty laugh.
"Like fuck you are, little bro," Carlos said with a chuckle. "'Ay, I'll shout a pint of me own special brew. Whaddya say?"
"We still have diesel fuel? I thought we ran out a few years ago? Have you finally taken up a hobby, even though it could be called hoarding?" Jake asked with a laugh. He prided himself in being the only one who could make jokes of that nature to Carlos's face, and live to tell the tale. Carlos just responded with a raised middle finger, before plodding off for home.
After four hours marching, they eventually saw their home in the distance. "Fucking FINALLY," Carlos uttered before moving towards home. Jake though, his nerves were on suddenly on edge. He didn't know why, but something was giving him the shits as it were. He checked his radar, nothing, so he did a manual check by looking at the surroundings. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but still something was making him nervous. He didn't know what, but it was starting to scare him.
"Carlos? Something's wrong here, something is very wrong."
Carlos froze, Jake usually had a good nose for sniffing out ambushes or attack waves. Forgoing normal protocol, Carlos jumped on the radio, "Gulf-91-Alpha calling Red Glory, Gulf-91-Alpha calling Red Glory, over." Carlos's voice showing the slight hint of panic and fear. When ever Jake felt like this, he was rarely ever wrong.
"Gulf-91-Alpha, this is Red Glory. We have you on scope 10 clicks out, what's the hold up? Over."
"Glory? Something is setting off Betas ATBFA senses at the moment. Requesting a radar wide scan, full spectrum, over."
"Roger, request granted. We will have the results in five mikes. I say again, five mikes, over."
"Roger, confirm five mikes. 91-Alpha, out," Carlos then turned to his younger brother. "It'll be alright lil' bro, I promise nothing will happen to you, we're a team aren't we?" Carlos asked Jake. His words sounding like he himself was questioning the strength of their brotherly bond.
------
Present day.
Applejack heard Jake wake from his nightmare. She had heard him toss, tumble and mutter things in his fitful sleep from the couch in the living room. As she got up to check on him, she took note of the time, and made her way down
2:38am.
When she made the bottom of the stairwell, she saw the tall lanky figure that was Jake go out the door. Applejack followed as quiet as she could possibly could, she followed Jake into the barn and saw him standing there in front of his war machine.
"It was my fault he died."
Those words made Applejack cock her head in puzzlement, what did he mean? Applejack took this as an invitation, and went closer to the human and his kneeling vehicle.
"I should have been the one to take that sword. I was the one who should have had the seal failure," Jake said with a slight break in his otherwise, steel voice, as he raised a pale hand to the belly of the titan. He then placed his hand under some white painted text that Applejack thought was the war machines name, Carlos. "I love you brother..."
Applejacks vision swam, she had thought that name was just some unusual pun for his machine. Oh how wrong she was. Carlos was Jakes brother!, she thought repeatedly in her head. As she shook her head clear she noticed Jake kneeling on the ground with his arms limp by his sides, like the titan before him. Applejack walked over, sat beside him, and put a comforting hoof over his shoulder. She flinched a bit when Jake reached up with a hand, and rested it atop her hoof over his shoulder. But was equally surprised when he gave her hoof a gentle squeeze.
"I can't thank you enough for taking me in like this. Taking in a complete stranger, one who has known nothing but war for the past ten years. Death and destruction on a daily basis can take its toll on most men, we are no more, but we are the same. It all comes to a point, where we freeze. We lock up, unable to do anything when our loved ones need us." Applejack sat down next to Jake, and grabbed him in a full on hug when she noticed small spots of wetness on the ground in front of his knees. He didn't shy away from her nor did he even notice. She had no words of comfort for Jake, she hadn't even seen a soldier in her life, so her words of hones wisdom were for once, useless. The only thing she could afford to do for this haunted soul for the time being, is to give him some tender loving attention as he cried openly at his haunted past.
---
Canterlot.
Luna was jarred from her trance, her face showing fear and... relief. She had looked into the dreams of her newly acquired warrior, and was truly frightened by the scale of battles he was accustomed with, and relived that she had picked the perfect one for the job. The Gryphon Empire had acquired some new toys for their military. Where they had gotten them, she and her sister did not know. What she did know though, was this human would stop at nothing to rid them from their peaceful world, for he would be most familiar with them.
She knew that he would do anything in his power to protect his new home, and preventing it from ending up like his old realm. "I knew I have chosen wisely with you guardian. I foresee happiness in your future. Please don't let us down. We are counting on you."
Luna then looked off to the west, to see a large glowing red cloud. It spoke of death, destruction and doom for all.
Applejack woke with a start, as there was a loud clang from down stairs. Apple Bloom. If y'all are tryin tah git another cutie mark in cookin'.... Applejack promptly dragged herself from her nice cozy bed and once again looked at the clock. 7:45am, the unforgiving little red digits flashed at her. Shock took hold of her as she quickly made her bed, brushed and tied up her mane, and bolted down stairs to find Jake in the kitchen.
"Mornin', AJ. Sleep well?". Jake then looked over his shoulder to see that look on her face that he knew all too well from his younger years, "I've woken up late and hence forth I'm late for work, whatever shall I do to make up for it?!", any fellow country raised child worth their salt knew what was rattling inside her head. "Calm down, AJ, I told the others what happened last night. The honestly didn't mind if you slept in a bit longer," Jake then gave something in a frying pan a little stir, "Scrabbled eggs?"
"... Ah, please," she responded with a slight shake of her head to regain her senses.
"One or two slices?"
"Two please," and before she knew it, on the plate in front of her were some scrabbled eggs on toast.
"It's been a while since I've cooked anything, so I hope it's alright. Heh, we'll sure as hell know in 20 minutes."
Applejack just looked at her plate of eggs, she could see several kinds of herbs and vegetables mixed in the yellow concoction, "... Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Jake replied before he took a bite, contemplated his next move, then made a bee line for the pepper cracker. "Knew I forgot something. Pepper?" he asked her while waving the cracker in her direction.
Applejack just sat there with a sad look on her face, "Ah missed mah deadline."
"What deadline?"
"Ah was supposed tah start work at six o'clock, it's now eight o'clock."
"Ah, know I now," Jake responded as he calmly lay his utensils on the table, "I know that feeling all too well, I've missed quite a few work days in my youth. Didn't really have a gut for the common cold if you catch my meaning. Take my advice, just calm down, eat your breakie and tackle the day head on as if it were any other. I already told them what happened last night, and they understood. Hell, your brother suggested you take the day off to show me around the place. But being fellow country blood through and through, I even offered to help out to relieve some of the workload." And with this, Jake continued eating.
"Y'all a country lad?" she asked with a small amount of amusement.
"Mmm hmmm," he confirmed through a mouthful of toast and egg, "3rd generation dairy, 500 head of cattle in the milking herd, few hundred in the beef with a small amount of grain and seed growing, though mainly for our benefit," Jake said without even batting an eye, as he continued to consume his breakfast.
"Beef?" Applejack asked.
Jake froze and swallowed hard, "Aww fuck me and my stupid mouth." Applejack tilted her head in confusion as Jake buried his own in his still utensil laden hands. "Please don't go over the roof with this, but... humans are omnivores," he said as he lifted up his head to gauge her reaction.
"... Omniwha?"
"Ffffaaarrrk, this just makes it worse. Now, please don't go freaking out, but humans don't JUST eat plants. Beef is cow. We also eat meat." Applejack just sat there staring at him.
"Like a gryphon?"
Jake sat there looking like he was trying to brain himself through sheer mental will at dropping this on her over breakfast of all things, "Stupid, stupid prick. You probably offended her with the eggs, why didn't you as--what? Gryphons, as in half eagle, half lion?" Applejack nodded an affirmative. "Well shit, how bout that, so I take it that it's a scocial norm for any sentient preditors to eat meat in public?"
"Sort of, they have to stick to they're own side of the restaurant, but otherwise, very much so. And don't worry about the eggs, we ponies do eat them," she said with a smile.
"Thank Christ for that."
Applejack gave a warmhearted chuckle as she took a bite from her breakfast, "Oh, Celestia," she then looked at Jake with a possessed look in her eye, "Y'all jus' HAVE tah teach me the recipie fer this," her voice stained with lust.
Jakes hands flew from the table to his sides, with a slightly disturbed look etched on his normally stoic face, "Jumpin' Jesus. Ya looked like you were goin' ta bloody eat me face off just now," with this, Applejack returned to her seat, a little calmer than before. "And I can most certainly tell you what I put in it," Applejacks spirits soared, "What ever smelt good for the herbs, and what I could get me mitts on for the rest," if only briefly.
After breakfast was eaten, the dishes washed and goodbyes were said to Granny Smith, Jake and Applejack finally walked out the front door. "... So. What's on the agenda for t'day?" Jake asked. Applejack placed her prized Stetson atop her head, and began walking over to the barn.
"Well ah could use you and yer war machine for this job, so go an git ready an meet up out here," she responded.
"Oh? Why if I may ask?"
Applejack looked up to Jake and grinned at him, "... Demolition," she again replied with a hint of glee. "Then after that ah can show yer 'round Ponyville."
"Roger, see ya in a couple o secs," Jake said as he made his way over to the barn. As Jake opened the large red doors, his gaze fell on the all too familiar sight of his suit, kneeling in the middle of the barn like it was bowing to him. Jake gave a contented sigh as he climbed into the cockpit, and sat down in the seemingly meager confines of the torso. As the only things that were controlled by switches or buttons were only the startup/shutdown and the HF radio, everything else was controlled by his thoughts via the neural interface pin, or NIP, dictating everything from advanced movement such as combat manouvers and hand to hand combat, to the various other things such as the FLIR. But it was predominantly used to help the computer interpret the commands from the muscle senors in the leg compartment, and the control yokes for the arms, sensing how fast the pilot wants to move said limb and in what direction. And with enough experience, the pilot doesn't need to consciously think about the commands, so the suit essentially becomes an excessively large second skin.
Jake made sure his harness was tight and lay his back against the spinal coloum, then he flicked the tiny switch that would bring the behemoths tiny, but insanely powerful, reactor into full power. "Please state user voice print and access codes," the computer droned in its dull monotone voice as Jake slipped his arms into the control yokes, careful not to pull away from the spinal coloum.
"A man can only truly know himself when he has nothing to lose, for his voice of reason shall be lost to the darkness of his mind, then and only then can he strive to better himself. 99318 alpha charlie bravo foxtrot," as Jake completed the startup, he felt the NIP stab into the base of his neck and the chest and head of his Goliath closed once more, it's ghostly blue eyes scanning the interior of the barn.
Applejack meanwhile had found a suitable sized cart and hitched up, and was now waiting on Jake and his machine when she heard a loud 'THUNK' and a hiss. Then she saw the tell tale "arteries" and eyes begin to glow and pulsate like a gigantic metal demon had taken up residence in the barn. And she once again, despite knowing what it was and who was controlling the titan, shivered slightly with fear as the ground shook and trembled with each titanic step taken.
As Jake stepped out into the morning sun, his suits' midnight black paint job shone with a gleam that made it look like the chitin plates off some kind of dangerous insect, rather than a hulking machine meant for heavy battle. Jake plodded over to Applejack, and kneeled down to her level, "Why don't you unhitch and I'll carry it, sound like a good idea?" Applejack nodded and proceeded to unhitch the large cart. Jake then lent over to the cart and picked it up, before tucking it under an arm. "Lead the way," he suggested with a wave of his free hand.
---
The three Cutie Mark Crusaders watched in awe of the armored titan, as it lifted up a large cart as if it were nothing then obediently followed Applejack towards Ponyville like an oversized alien dog... Well... Two of them were. Scootaloo's eyes were almost out of her head, and Sweetie Belle's jaw was practically unhitched as the two hadn't believed what Apple Bloom said about the giant. She was about to take her friends into the barn to show them, when it had come out on its own accord. Scootaloo was the first to speak, "That. Is. The. Most. Awesome. Thing. EVER!!!" pure glee written on her face. Sweetie Belle responded in her own way by falling over in a catatonic state, with her eyes still bulging. "... I think Sweetie Bot has malfunctioned," this eliciting a laugh from Apple Bloom, and a glaring from Sweetie Belle as she picked herself from the ground.
"Ya know," Apple bloom began, "That there thing shrugged off a direct attack from Twilight". Again her friends stared in shock. "Are y'all thinkin' what ahm thinkin'?" the two other fillies both looked at each other with knowing grins.
Applejack trudged along with a now fully loaded cart of ruble and debris along the path towards Ponyville, and walking beside her, was the massive hulking form of a battle suit. Jake had the cockpit open to the air, letting the sun touch his gleaming white skin that had never seen such pure light in more than a decade, and pure un-recycled air fill his lungs with each breath, both of which had brought a genuine smile to his lips. Under each arm of the Goliath, were the old steel support beams and remains of the roof trusses. The enitre load for each pile of scrap being about five tonnes each, but the titan of metal carried them as if they weigh nothing. Jake gave a quick glance to his partner in destruction, as she gave a slightly more than tiny grunt of exertion as she tried to pull the "slightly" overloaded cart over the crest of the hill. One side of Jake's face crooked up in a glance of a smug grin, he shifted the load of his right arm a bit so it caught on the back of the cart and gave a small push.
Applejack turned her head back to him and gave a smile, "Thank ya kindly, pardner".
"Not a prob' mate," was Jake's reply. And as they finally rose over the hill, Jake let off a whistle, "So that's Ponyville eh? Quite a good lookin' township. Certainly put Northcliffe ta shame when it was at its best". Down in the valley, Jake saw something that looked like it had come right from a fairy tale. Small cottages with bright colours and thatched roofs dotted about the place, a windmill on the outskirts with the sail lazily spinning around in the light breeze, and a curious looking tree in the middle of the village and a small river snaking its way trough what looked like a park where he could see other ponies either having picnics, lazing on the grass or playing. He automatically assumed the latter to be foals.
"Yep, and would y'all believe me if ah told ya that it was taken over by Discord only to have him defeated by mah friends and mahself?" she replied as she continued to walk along the path.
"Wait... There's a guy whose name is essentially chaos? And you and your mates killed 'im?" he asked with a bit of astonishment.
Applejack meanwhile, had looked like a fly had flown up her snout, causing her to frown, "Ah do not have any mates, nor are y'all mah mate. We hadn't even gone on a date yet, so could y'all please stop sayin that. And no we didn't kill him, we reformed him and he's now livin' up in Canterlot".
Jake stopped walking and looked at her blankly, as if she had just gone and done something insanely stupid. Then he remembered, "Oh shit, sorry for the mix up. Back in my world, I come from a place called Australia, and in Australia we usually call people we know from acquaintances to really good friends as "mate"". Applejack just returned his earlier blank stare. "It's a slang thing, and we Aussies were well known for our slang. Some had even said its like another language," again, Applejack continued her blank stare, and Jake sighed. "Alright, here's an example. "G'day, mate. Ya still up for th' bungara this arvo? If ya are, we've got a nice bush chook that I'd caught earlier. On a side, bring ya own piss 'cause we're gonna get fuckin' hammered t'night. I'll catch ya later, mate. Hooroo"". Jake waited for Applejack to respond.
"... What in tarnation is a... Bung-arrah?"
Jake's shoulders slumped, and his head drooped, "I'll simplify it a bit more for ya. It's like how you say "Ah", "mah", "tarnation" and "sugarcube". It's just something you grew up with, how your elders spoke, like an accent of a dialect. The main language of Australia is English, our dialect is to simplify, shorten and tell things as they are with excessive amounts of either dry or rough humor, and our accent is the slang associated with our dialect. Most people, or in this case ponies, would say "Good day", being an Australian I would say "G'day". You say "Afternoon", I say "Arvo". Also, most Aussies have this subconscious enjoyment by mixing up words and forming them into sentences that leave most others guessing. Think of it as a smart ass language. Say some bloke and I started to have a convocation.
"How ya goin'?
Not bad.
When are we goin'?
Not long now.
How much was that?
Wasn't cheap.
... Ya following me here?" Jake said as he twisted his head slightly to the side in questioning.
Applejack for her part began to think it over. What Jake said was starting to make sense, now that she thought about it. She instantly began to think how Rarity spoke in an uptight and refined manner, it's just how she is. Applejack then nodded, understanding slightly more about exactly why Jake calls her and her family mate. "Ah see now, it's just how y'all grew up. Granny Smith was mah elder, and that's how she spoke. So it's kinda like... A familiarization thingy?" she asked as she looked up to Jake.
Jake for his part, put down the steel beams he was carrying, and clapped his suits hands. Making a 'clingka' sound every time he clapped, "Very well done, you've hit the nail on the head for the majority". Jake then picked up his piles of beams again, and began to walk for the town beside a now enlightened Applejack.
"Y'all still haven't told my what a bungthinawhatsits is," she protested after a few moments.
Jake meanwhile had decides to keep it simple, "A Bungara is an aboriginal dish. Basically you grab what ever reptile you can, then throw its carcass on the coals hide, guts and all, then eat it when it's cooked". Applejacks jaw dropped somewhat at the rather crude method of preparing a meal. "Taste like chicken, with the texture of pork. Very odd, yet nice," and Applejack gave a shudder.
---
Meanwhile, on the edge of the Everfree forest, a certain two regal, and well known mares began to converse between themselves. "And you're sure he can defeat it?" Celestia asked Luna, with vast amounts of worry in her normally calm voice.
"Fear not mine dearest sister, I have gazed into his dreams, and this wouldn't be the biggest thing he has slain. For he has killed things far larger, and far stronger than this mere beast," she then nodded to the cage behind them holding a winged reptile with two legs, and a long barbed tail. This creature could also breath fire and had a venomous bite. Not to mention that, despite being less than half the size of a fully grown dragon, it was far more aggressive than it's cousin, and more powerful than its size led to show. "It would be a match, yes. But I believe he shall be able to defeat it. Have you notified Twilight Sparkle of this plan?"
"I have, and I have also notified the mayor that all damages shall be paid for," the large white mare said with a slight amount of doubt and fear in her soothing voice.
"Again, I remind you. This shall be of little challenge to him". Then the smaller mare turned to a stallion standing nervously next to the cage. "Release the Wyvern!".
There was the protesting squeak of metal on metal, as the gate for the Wyvern's enclosure was opened. Almost immediately, the dangerous creature burst out from its prison and took to the sky with a loud roar of rage. Headed to Ponyville.
---
Both Jake and Applejack stopped and looked back to the forest upon hearing a loud roar, "... What was that?" Jake asked with some concern.
"It's the Everfree forest," she explained in a calm manner, though she shook slightly from the proximity of the sound. "It's probably--" she didn't even finish, as a large Wyvern flew over the trees. Heading right for them, "... Nothing," she managed to whimper out. The soldier in Jake kicked in, as he dropped the beams and moved over to Applejack in one fluid movement, covering her with the bulk of the Goliath's armored back and munitions pack. The Wyvern flew over them, spewing fire from its toothy mouth in a blaze so intense that the paint of the back of the suit started to bubble. Then as fast as it had come, it had gone. Still headed for the village.
Jake wordlessly rose from his place over Applejack, and closed the torso up. Once closed and sealed, the eyes and arteries of the war machine once again began to glow and pulsate, then Applejack's jaw fell from her head as the mountain of metal leaned forwards and took off in a run far faster than what she could accomplish. The ground shaking violently with each massive step taken, and huge clods of earth and grass tearing up and flinging into the air in a rooster tail behind the now sprinting behemoth.
In the town, panic and pandemonium had taken hold, as the Wyvern had landed in the main square and was methodically tearing the town apart. A small light purple filly unicorn with a blond mane hid under the bridge with her mother, a grey pegasus with also a blond mane, just on the side of the main square. Utterly terified, the small filly began to cry as she witnessed the large reptilian destroying everything around her, as her mother tried her best to comfort her distraught daughter. Both saw a squad of guards make an attempt to take down the beast, only to be flung into a wall by its long barbed tail. As it smashed it's way through another house, mother and daughter heard a loud and fast sound.
'WHIR BOOM WHIR BOOM WHIR BOOM WHIR BOOM'
it was getting louder by the second, and when they turned around to see what else had come, their spirits plummeted. Coming to join the fire breathing reptile, was something out of a horror movie. A massive black creature with glowing eyes and body, that shook the ground with each step. And each step was bringing it closer to them. They both slammed her eyes shut and the filly held her hooves to her face, in an attemp to protect herself from this new menace. Then the loud noises stopped, so she cracked an eye open to reveal to giant leaping over the river and over her. Completely ignoring her. When it came back down to earth, it came down with a bone shaking
BOOM.
This caught the attention of the Wyvern, which was half way from utterly demolishing a spa house, and attempting to snap up a few morsels. The dragonesque creature looked the newcomer over, sizing it up. Coming to the conclusion that it was large enough to be a threat, it left its half done structure and charged the newcomer in a mad dash of animalistic rage. What happened next surprised both the ponies under the bridge, and the Wyvern.
The black biped rose a fist and slammed it into the Wyvern's face, electing a cry of pain from the creature. The biped grabbed hold of its horns in its flame wreathed fists, and spun on its heel in a throw that would send the Wyvern over the river and into the park where there would be no more collateral damage. As the Wyvern regained it's sense of balance and began looking for the one that had hurt it, it's vision was filled with a broad metal chest, with a small head and massive shoulders as the black biped slammed into it in a full on charge. Then the biped's arms wrapped around the Wyvern's torso, and the bipedal demon then arched it's back, lifting the Whvern above its head. Then using the Wyvern's own weight, it continued to fall backwards that would land the Wyvern on its head.
Unfazed by this newcomers almost impossible strength, the Wyvern raised its head and bit down on the left arm in a shower of sparks, as the Wyvern's super hard teeth met with nearly three and a half inches of hardened steel and carbon fiber ceramic composite tiles. The machines reply was a right hook to the face, which sent the Wyvern flying back more than a few meters.
By this point, the previously terrified and panicking ponies of Ponyville stood on the far side of he river watching this titanic fist fight. And Applejack had made it to a hill a safe distance from the fight, watching in awe of what Jake and his machine could do. Just the raw and unrestrained power of this machine was now revealed to her in its full and terrifing glory, and the ruthlessness of its pilot made it all the more terrifying.
The Wyvern got back into a standing position as it tried to recalculate its chances of winning this battle, but it's calculation was cut short when the biped raised its massive fists in a challenge. The Wyvern's animalistic rage took hold once more as it charged the biped, and the biped charged as well. The biped threw a punch into the reptilians face, and the Wyvern raked its talons across the armored torso and head of the biped, leaving three long and deep gouges in the metal. The biped then raised both it's arms, and brought them down on the Wyvern's head in a concussive smack that left the reptile in a stupor.
The ponies on the river bank gawked once more as the biped grabbed the Wyvern by its long tail, and swung it around as if it were a lasso. When enough momentum was gained, the biped simply let go, sending the Wyvern into a nearby pond. Then the large biped did something, for the ponies, truly amazing. It lifted its arms in a cross in front of its chest, and swung them out and to the side, revealing two blood red swords from a hatch just above the wrists, dubbing it as a machine. Pony kind did have some extremely primitive robots and a mild grasp of mechanical engineering, and their most advanced computers that did nothing more than solve 2+2, and take up an entire building. So to them, this was like something out of an alien horror film, which left them both amazed, and quaking with fear.
Yet again, the Wyvern charged, it's maw gnashing as it now decided to use its power of flight, instead of its stumpy little legs. The biped ducked and rolled to the side as the reptilian flew past it, grabbing its tail yet again in the process. The biped then began the cruel task of swinging the Wyvern, yet again, over it's shoulder and making it come, yet again, into contact with the ground on its back. Then in one swift motion from its left arm, it swung it's sword at the base of its tail, cutting it clean off eliciting a roar of such pain and volume, that all the spectating ponies dropped to the ground and covered their ears. Before the Wyvern could finish, the biped proceded to use its own tail as a club... Against itself.
The princesses looked at the battle from high up on a cloud, in shock of the viscousness of Luna's new guardian. Although Celestia looked like she was about to lose her breakfast from the sheet carnage, she silently admitted to herself that Luna had chosen wisely indeed with this one. He held nothing back, he just brought the ugly truth of the battlefield into play, something that none of either of their guard regiments clould ever do. Celestia's own hoof picked guardian preferred to fight from afar, very rarely going for close quater combat as if he didn't want to be soiled by blood. This one, seemed like he couldn't care less, as his suit was now almost painted with the crimson life fluid of the Wyvern.
The biped then lifted up its huge right arm, blade in tow, and promptly put the Wyvern out of its misery by driving the sword through its cranium with a gut wrenching crunch. Painlessly ending its life, after it's brutal beating.
Somewhere nearby, a bird was none too happy. Wondering to itself, "Why carrots?".
The ponies all looked upon the blood covered machine in sheer terror. No pony or mechanical demon dare move. Until, a small unassuming purple and blond filly made its presence known to the behemoth, walking across the lawn towards the beast. And when Dinky got to within several meters, she stood there. Shaking like absolute crazy, but standing there. Suddenly with several mechanical whirs and clanks, the machine knelt down and it's torso opened up, revealing a hairless monkey to the Ponyvillians. Dinky, obviously, gasped as the ape unstrapped a harness and climbed down to ground level, walked the small gap to her, and knelt down to her level.
Everypony's breath was held, thinking the the ape would also kill the little filly like the Wyvern. Dinky looked up to meet a pair of beady, pale blue eyes on a flat round face with a short unkept, mousy brown mane. The little filly put on a brave face and took a deep breath, "Thank you, mister monkey," came the most adorable little mumble ever heard by the ape.
The ape reached out a hand, making Dinky gasp and look away with fear, only to have it come to a rest gently on her little head. "You're welcome, little one". Dinky looked back up again, to find a warm smile on its face. Then she saw one of her mothers friends come running up from behind the battlefield. And before she knew it, it was Applejack who had her in a firm grasp, making a desperate attempt to get away from the ape.
"Now y'all just stay away, ya hear?!" Applejacks face contorted into a look of fear and defensive anger. "Now git lost, Jake. Y'all just too dangerous, now just git in that infernal machine of yers, and leave!". The ape, apparently named Jake, looked hurt. Even angry. But said nothing, as he climbed back into his machine, stood up, and left with out a word. Applejack's mind was reeling with what she just had breakfast with this morning. What she had allowed Apple Bloom near. A cold heartless killer, she thought as she watched the behemoth boldly venture into the Everfree forest.
"Why did you make the nice monkey leave? Now I'll have to reschedule the party".
"Darling, was that any way to thank something who had just saved the town, even if it did so in a cruel and violent manner?"
Applejack trudged behind her friends, with the solar and lunar princesses in the lead. They had ventured deep into the Everfree forest to try and find Jake, she didn't really want to be near the townsponies at this current point in time. Her friends harsh words still rang in her ears, even as they swiveled around to keep check of their surroundings to prevent any predator to sneak up on them. The trail was still fresh, as fresh as it could get by counting all the knocked and flattened vegetation, leaving a very battle suit like silhouette in the thick undergrowth. The deep depressions in the forest loam, the shape of the foot prints dictating the exact path of the titan and it's pilot. Pinkie on the other hand (hoof(?)), continued to have her snout firmly on the ground, like an over energetic bloodhound.
"There's a clearing up ahead guys!" Rainbow Dash called out from her post above the thick canopy, "And I think I see something!"
Sure enough, the odd group stepped out into a small glade, and in the middle of said glade stood their target. It had its huge armored back to them, but it stood still and ever so silent, like the forest had placed a monument to show that it would stand the test of time. Pinkie jumped up and gave a whoop, Fluttershy and Rarity had shrunk as much as possible to present a smaller target to the behemoth, Rainbow gave gave an "Awesome", while the three princesses and cowmare simply looked apprehensive.
And sure enough, Pinkie merrily trotted her way out to the sleeping titan. "Pinkie, git back here. He might try to hurt y'all!" Applejack called.
"Oh, Applejack. If he wanted to hurt somepony, he would of just destroyed ponyville. Besides, we have the three bestest princesses here to help," Pinkie replied with a smile, still bouncing her way to the seemingly inactive battle suit.
"She does have a point. Besides, he never did hurt anypony, and he did throw the wyvern where it could do no more collateral damage," Twilight stated, causing Applejack to groan and mumble an agreement.
So the small group of ponies made their way out to the behemoth. When they got there, they found Pinkie hugging the daylights out of Jake, and shouting things about parties, cake and birdseed in rapid fire succession. Jake had a pleading look in his eyes, as he scanned the group, begging for the pink whirlwind to let go and let him breath. Eventually, Pinkie did release her grip on the more than disturbed human.
"Mother of god! What kind of drugs are you on?!" the human asked as soon as he managed to feed air into his starved lungs. "And I thought Dusty was bad enough...".
"Oh oh, who's Dusty? Is she a friend of yours? *gasp* Can we meet her?" the hyper pink pony rattled.
Eventually, Jake got his hyperventilation issue under control and looked to the expecting pink pony, "Dusty was a he, and a fine technician at that. Heh, if you have him the carcass of a light suit, you'd end up with three assaults," he said with a slight longing smile on his face.
At this, Twilight decided to pipe up. "How does that work? How can you make three of something bigger than itself with one?"
Jake just chuckled, "It's a figure of speech Sparky. He was just that good, he's the one who helped me make the mods for my swords and autocannon," then Jake gestured to the titan behind him. "Goliaths aren't really designed to carry hand to hand weapons, nor have a fold away gun. They were supposed to be not much more then an attack support platform". This earned him mostly blank stares of confusion, "... Artillery and sniper fire. My brothers one did that, but I wasn't a ranged fighter, so I had to improvise".
"Artillery? As in those huge cannons at Canterlot?" Rainbow asked from her position above the group.
Jake looked up and gave a nod, as if he were confirming something, "Well how about that. So you can use your wings".
"Well duh, of course I can. What's it to ya?"
"Oh nothing, it's just that ponies aren't really designed for flight. Not to mention that your wings a bit small for your overall body size," Jake calmly replied while climbing back into the cockpit, only to grab something and climb back down. "No offense there, Skittles, but nothing much else other then bugs, bats and birds used to fly naturally where I'm from".
Rainbow and the other ponies watched as the human held up the object in his hand. It was roughly cylindrical, and looked like it fit around one of his arms, "The names Rainbow Dash. The fastest flier in all Equestria".
Jake just muttered out an "uh huh", as he grabbed the object and snapped it open down the middle, and placed it over his left arm and snapped it closed. The ponies all watched as Jake then flipped open a small panel on the top side of it, and began to act like he was using a type writer, as his fingers gracefully danced over it. "But it doesn't mean to say that without the help of science, engineering and physics it can't be done".
At hearing three of her favorite subjects, Twilights ears picked up, "What do you mean? Humans can fly?"
Jake let out a small huff of amusement, "Fly? That's child's play, we've been to the moon several times, and were planing on another planet in our solar system". At this, Luna's face lit up with unbridled joy that any being would make it to the moon, "We were going to try for Mars, but shit went down so we had to forgo that little project. Luna obviously knows why, as she's seen what our world is now".
Again, Rainbow pipped up, "Ha, bet you guys couldn't do a sonic rain-boom. In the only pegasus to do it!"
Jake was really tempted to hold a jar under the boasting pony, and sell the pure and viscous byproduct of her... Humble mannerism. "... Woopie... Don't get me wrong, getting that fast by sheer muscle alone is very impressive, but we humans have gone a lot faster and higher then such a... Modest pegasus such as yourself. It was quite a regular thing for us, especially when the Concorde airliners were running. And they used to be civil aircraft".
Applejack gave a snicker at how her friend Rainbow's boasting attitude was wiped away by the calm matter of fact ease Jake did it in. Then she looked up to the suits eyes, and noticed them glowing a pale white rather then their ghostly blue. Then all of a sudden, a large glowing window of sorts suddenly appeared in front of the human, who now used his hands to interact with it. She looked over to Twilight who squeed in excitement.
"A hologram?! You can do holograms?!" Jake just continued to scan, flip, shove, poke and prod at the now dizzying array of floating screens that hovered in front of him. "And you can interact with them! That's amazing!"
Jake then pulled two of the screens aside from his view like a pair of curtains, "Sparks, calm down. I'll try to explain them to you when I can. At the moment I'm trying to run a diagnostic," and pulled them back together again. "Oh by the way, what happened to the pink one?"
Twilight shook her head, "Wait, what? Pinkies gone?"
"What were the odds of her name being that? Yeah, she suddenly left in a cloud of smoke not two minutes ago" came back the reply.
Then Twilight remembered what happened when she first came to ponyville, "Oh, ok. I think I know why".
After a few moments, the screens all started to lessen in numbers until one was left. "Oi, Skittles, check these bad boys out". At this, Jake hit a small symbol in the corner of the screen, and three large holographic models sprang up from the ground and started to slowly rotate. Naturally, Rainbow started to berate the human about her name, but was left speechless by what was in front of her. Two of the three glowing models were long and sleek, with what she assumed to be the wings being very short and confined to the rear of the craft, and making up the majority of the tail as well as the rest of the wing. The third one looked rather blocky, with square stubby wings and two tails. One each over the odd circular ports at the rear. And each one had a cockpit built into it, but the thirds cockpit stuck out like a blister on the fuselage. Being a creature of flight herself, she noted that these things were built for one purpose. Go VERY fast.
"These my colourful friend, are just a few of our craft that can break the sound barrier. This one," he said as he gestured to the long white and blue one with four massive (what Twilight assumed) engines under the one huge wing, "was the civil aircraft I told you about. Now obselite, it was a well known plane that could skip around at about Mach 1.7". The ponies all gave looks of astonishment, bordering on disbelief that a vehicle as large as this could so readily break the barrier of sound. Then Jake pointed to the long black one, "This is the SR-71 Blackbird, now retired, it could go as high as 80,000 feet, and go Mach three or faster".
Rainbow's jaw just dropped from her face, as Jake went to the third in line. "This is an F/A-18 Hornet. It's an attack and interception aircraft that was still in use by most military forces world wide. It's only enemies in regards to speed and agility in combat were the F-22 Raptor, which was so bloody expensive, and the F-35. But it's a little tamer in the speed department, at around Mach 1.8". Rainbow couldn't handle it anymore. She leaped up and flew straight for Jake, intent on showing him who was the dominate flyer.
Jake foresaw this, as he grabbed her outstretched hoof, and pirouetted on the ball of his heel, bringing the brash mare to a screeching halt at the belly of the war machine. Jake then placed his hands on her shoulders, and held her there pinned against the hull. "You have nothing to fear from me. I won't be able to build one of these. I did agricultural and automotive engineering at school... Not aerospace, so don't worry," then with a smile, Jake let the bested mare fall to the forest floor.
As jake turned around to address the other ponies, he saw Applejack and Twilight in a readied stance. "Oh, c'mon you two. Your both acting as if I'd try to rip your throat out," Jake said in a tone of mocked hurt as he made a gesture that made the hologram revert back into a glowing window.
Applejack snorted, "Yeah, how do we know if y'all aren't trying to?"
Jake shrugged his shoulders and continued on with his work, "Meh, good point. But if that's the case, then why haven't I tried to kill you all at the moment?"
"'Cause yer not in that infernal machine of yers," came her reply.
"I don't need my battle suit to do it. A stick with a point on the end would suffice," was his calm, yet bloodcurdling reply. "Now, I know who the colourful one is, along with you three," he said as he gestured to Applejack, Twilight and Luna, "so who are the rest of you?" he said as he "shrunk" the hologram and began to fiddle around with the device on his arm.
Now Luna decides to enter the convocation, "Please except our apologies. This is my sister, princess Celestia. And these are the elements of kindness and generosity, Rarity and Fluttershy," she stated as she pointed each individual accordingly.
Jake just gave a casual two fingered wave as he continued to tap the object on his wrist, "G'day, sorry about earlier."
"Darling, what on earth are you wearing?" Rarity asked with a slight hint of shock.
Jake gave her a confused look, then shifted his gaze to the rest of his pale body. As he did, he now knew why she had asked him, a plain pair of "pilot shorts". A shiny black and skin tight, these shorts went as far down as his knees. Supposedly, they were meant to help enhance the feedback to the sensors in the leg compartment, but most pilots only wore them to look somewhat decent after returning to their base after several months in the field. "Oh these?" Rarity nodded, "They're my pilot shorts. Snazzy aren't they?" at this, Jake struck a pose that a model on a cat walk would pull, with a pout to boot. Rainbow completely forgot her anger towards the human, and rolled on the ground clutching her sides in laughter.
"Well, if you'd like, I could make you a set of clothing. What do you say?"
Jake shrugged his shoulders, and sat cross leged on the grass. Making the ponies wince at how his hind legs can bend like that, "Well... I'd love to get some clothes, but I don't have any cash on me, and I left my last tin of SPAM back home."
"Oh don't worry about payment. Ridding Ponyville of that vile wyvern is payment enough," she said with a smile. "By the way, what's SPAM?"
"Ah can assume its an "acquired taste" of yours?" Applejack pipped in.
The rest of the ponies gave confused looks towards the human. "Yeah well, some say it smells like dog food and others say it taste like cat food, but I like it. SPAM stands for Spiced Ham, and the stuff will last years. It's actually a commodity where I'm from, so much so that we use it as a currency for really expensive items. I was actually trying to save it to get a new Defender model mech. Three times the size and power of my suit."
"Ham?" Fluttershy whispers from the back of the group.
"I'm going to throw it out in the open. I'm an omnivore, and ham is essentially pig, but don't worry, I don't eat ponies. It was a socially unaccepted practice to eat equines in most western countrys, and I wouldn't eat something sentient. Anyway, I'm done with this place, let's go."
"... And then I did a sonic rainboom. It was the best. Wedding. Ever!"
"Uh huh," was Jakes reply to Rainbow Dashes story. Like the others in the odd group, Jake had long ago lost interest on the subject of the pegasus' stories of bravado. At first, he was absolutely enthralled by just the thought of speaking with a pegasus who could breach the sound barrier and leave a wave of colour in her wake, but he soon learned just how much the mare in question liked to brag. And as it turned out, she did it A LOT.
"And there was this one time where-"
And almost immediately, the polychromatic mare was silenced when a giant metal finger rose up, and had pressed its tip against her mouth. "Please, just let me... Process the stories I've already got from you. One at a time is more then enough, especially if one story took more than four hours to say." To say she was stunned by how fast Jakes machine could move was an understatement. The other ponies, along with Rainbow, gave a shudder at just how fluid the Goliath's movements were. Almost as if it wern't a machine meant purely for killing, but a living being. "*sigh* Look, I'm sorry I cut you off like that, but this suit does require a bit of concentration to operate, and your... Awesome stories aren't really helping." It was half the truth, though the NIP does give the pilot that "neural link" between man and machine, it still requires concentration to utilize the onboard equipment. Just not as much as he lead to believe.
"Ok then," the crestfallen mare replied. "So how do these suits use cannons?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You said that battle suits use cannon back in the glade," Twilight interjected.
"Cannon? We haven't used proper cannon for at least a hundred or so years. Though to be honest, there are a few guys I knew that had exo-suits with huge machine guns. WAY bigger than a .50 cal, but nowhere near as powerful as a proper battle suit."
"If you haven't used black powder technology for that long, then how do your... Battle suits use cannons?"
"Hold on, are you thinking I use an explosive powder for my autocannon?" Jake asked with a slight chuckle.
"How else would you propel the cannon ball down range? Throw them?" came the Alicorn's snarky reply. The battle suit came to a halt, and doubled over as the cockpit opened up to reveal Jake laughing himself stupid. As he was still laughing, Jake sent his suit into a shutdown and he unfastened himself. But still continued chuckling as he climbed up to the large box like piece on the back of the Goliath.
"You're a fucking good one, Sparky, that was the best laugh I've had in a long time," he stated as he opened up a hatch on the munitions pack, stuck his hand in, and grunted with a bit of effort as he pulled out a silver, bullet like object about the diameter of a unicorns horn, and about half the length. When he dropped it to the ground, it impacted with a loud thud, and buried itself in the dirt. When he jumped down, he walked over to the miniture crater and hoisted the object up for all to see. "Though I do know my suit would be able to throw this thing, I'm not too sure about a regular bloke on foot," beads of sweat were starting to form on his brow, so Twilight took the silver object in her magic, then was shocked at how heavy the object was with magic alone.
"What in Equestria is this?!"
"That, would be a 30mm Depleted Uranium slug for the Dire Wolf autocannon." Twilight just gave the human a quizzical look, "Remember that thing I... Showed you at Applejacks?" Twilights eyes lit up in realization.
"That thing was a weapon?!"
"Yup, and a pretty good one at that. Makes pretty short work of even a Diamond Back."
"Y'all shoved a weapon in her face?!" Applejack joined.
"YOU WHAT?!?!" Celestia's face was almost maroon with anger. How dare this barbarian point a weapon at her student!
"Hey what the fuck?! She started it!" he said as he stabbed a finger at the lavender pony.
"I did not!" Twilight retorted.
"Did so!"
"Did not!"
"I was just testing my swords! YOU were the one who shot that sparkly shit at me!"
"I though you were going to hurt Applejack's sister!"
"So you admit to it then, because I was doing REPAIRS! You opened fire on me without warning, if you were on MY world, I would have just trod on you and cleaned my foot off later without a seconds thought! I was just being nice!"
"Nice?! You put a weapon to my head, and I didn't do anything wrong!"
Jake showed his frustration and sudden disinterest in their argument by throwing his pale arms into the air, and looked over to a fuming Celestia. "I didn't do shit. I didn't start fuck all, I was testing repairs. Tell 'er AJ," he said as he waved his hand in the gap between the farm pony and princess, indicating for her to tell Celestia what really happened.
"It was mah fault actually. I left Jake with Apple Bloom so he could fix his machine, and ah went to go git Twilight. When we came back, ah forgot to mention to Twi that he'd be in his machine. So when we got back, Jake drew his swords to test them and Twi jus' reacted. But it was mah fault, I shudda told her before hoof," she recalled as she made circles in the dirt with a hoof.
Celestia calmed down after Applejacks explanation, "*sigh* Twilight, Jake. I want you both to apologize to each other, and also Jake. If I ever hear about you harming one of my ponies in any shape or form, I will kill you." her gaze hardened as she let that last sentence sink in. Jake just lifted an eyebrow and nodded in understanding.
Twilight shuddered, she'd never heard her mentor ever speak like that to another being before, but nevertheless she turned to meet the human's gaze. "Jake, I appologize for my earlier transgressions. It was unbecoming of me, and I hope to be friends with you instead of enemies." She jumped back a bit when Jake thrust out a hand.
"... Are you going to shake on it?"
Twilight stared at the appendage in confusion, "But, you haven't apologized yet."
"This is how humans generaly appologize. We shake hands and merely accept what we've done wrong. Essentially it's the almost literal term of "kiss and make up". No awkward moments, no words spoken, just simple action that says it all in one go." And with that, Twilight layed her hoof in Jake's rough and callouse hand, to which he gave a short and sharp shake, then simply let Twilights hoof fall away from his firm grip.
"Now can we hear about your cannon?" Rainbow whined from a cloud above the group.
"Can do, now you can ask me anything you want to know," he said as he went back to the object on his left arm.
"What's that thing on your arm?" Surprisingly, it was Celestia that asked the question.
Jake continued to poke about on its glowing surface, "This? It's a computer," he stated simply, as a hatch on the right arm of the suit opened up, and a six barreled weapon fell out and extended to its full length before the ponies. Making Fluttershy dive into the nearest bush from the suddenness, and loud noise accompanied by "setting up" the gun.
"Surely that's not a computer dearie, no computer can be that small," Rarity exclaimed.
"Uhh... Yes they can, I hold the proof in more then one form."
"But... I've seen some of the most advanced computers in Equestria, and they aren't anywhere near that size," Twilight stated.
"Let me guess. They take up a whole building, and can only make pretty flowers on a piece of paper out of binary?" The silence was compelling. "... Thought so, but I'm telling you now, this IS a computer and I have four others in my suit. And the one on my arm is a lot more powerful then your most advanced building."
"But..." was all she could blabber out.
"But nothing, I run around in a fucking sci-fi movie set," then he held his arm up to the shocked ponies. "This isn't even the smallest one we humans have. The smallest one I know of can fit in my palm. Now, onto my... "cannon"." Jake went and plucked the round of ammunition from Twilight's magic with a small grunt.
"Finally..." Rainbow said as she sat on the ground.
"Right then, first up the Dire Wolf AC fires these little baby's at roughly 5000 rounds a minute, at a range of up to five kilometers, but the gun is accurate to only one kilometer."
Twilight's jaw hung from her head, "But that's impossible! Nothing can fire that fast or that far!"
"Again, I hold evidence that says otherwise, but that's not the defining feature of this gun and it's ammo," Jake then looked over to Dash. "These bullets are fired via gauss, rail to be precise, at over seven times the speed of sound."
Rainbow Dash fainted.
"Whats gauss? And why do you need such a heavy projectile?" Luna asked, finally deciding to join in.
"Magnetic induction. But these are fired via a rail system, meaning that on each barrel there are two electro magnets running along the barrel that send the bullets at those speeds. And the reason why for Depleted Uranium is because of its density. I'm quite often shooting things with hardened steel and ceramic armour, and reqular old lead and copper is too soft for the job, not to mention they'd just melt in the barrel from the velocity."
"So that's why yer machine weighs so much," Applejack said, catching on with the subject.
"Yup, I've got enough ammo for a small campaign if I fire in short bursts. 40 percent of my suits overall mass is just in ammunition alone. I could have actually finished my fight with the wyvern in under a second with just one shot."
"One shot?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow of doubt.
Jake pointed to the bullet by his feet, "You felt how heavy that was, now imagine that traveling at Mach seven, then hitting soft flesh. I could kill ten of those things with one shot, but I've always limited my use on this gun, simply because of how rare DU is. Now that I'm here, I probably couldn't even get any, but if you guys had tungsten then it'd be a whole different ball game."
"We have tungsten, how much would thou require?" Luna calmly stated.
"How much could you give me?"
"How fast does your weapon fire?"
"I already told you, 5000 a minute."
"..."
"*sigh* You want a demo, don't you?" this received a nod from all ponies present and conscious. "Alright then, but I am telling you now that you'll want to cover your ears."
"Is... Is it loud?" came the meek question of Fluttershy.
Jake stared at the shy pegasus in what one would call... Amused confusion. "Well... The cockpit is hermetically sealed, and I can't hear anything until the external microphones hear something themselves. Even without the external mics, it's loud enough to shake the teeth in my head, so I would have to say very loud."
"Hold on just a second," Twilight called out. "If you had the option of listening to Rainbow Dash for these past few hours, then what were you really listening to?"
"andshecallsherselfsmart... It's because I can't turn them off," Jake said as he strapped himself in. "They are constantly working as a safety precaution. Not to mention that you'd WANT to hear what's going on in the battlefield. All they do is limit how manny decibels are reaching my ears, while I'm in this thing you can scream and shout as much as you want. But I'll hear it at the level of a regular convocation." Twilight looked down to her front hooves and shuffled the soil around them in embarrassment. "But seriously, cover your ears."
As Jake continued to ready his war machine for a weapons demonstration, Celestia cast a sound canceling shield around herself, and the others in a cone of silence. All that could be heard was the sound of everypony breathing, and Rarity doing her best to rouse Rainbow Dash from her unplanned nap. They all watched as the cockpit sealed itself around its pilot, and continued to watch as it raised its arm up in front of itself, weapon in tow, and pointed it at the tree line in the direction of Ponyville. What in Equestria is he doing pointing it that way? Wouldn't it be safer to point it into the forest?. Celestia looked down to her sister, who had opened her mouth to say something, when there was an almighty roar.
All the ponies within the influence of the shield fell to the ground and threw their hooves to their ears. Rainbow Dash being rudely awoken, looked around in a panic for the source of the deafening noise. Celestia fed more magic into the shield, getting a slightly better result, and as she and her sister looked up at the war machine, she saw a massive gout of flame reaching out from the cannon towards the utterly shredded foliage. There was almost a solid beam of white hot metal pouring out from the monstrous weapon, tearing through trees, rocks, anything within its reach. Carving out a path through the thick undergrowth. And in 20 seconds, the most fearsome weapon that ponies had ever laid eyes on, fell silent.
The Goliath let its arm fall to it's side, retracting the weapon as it did, and the cockpit opened up to reveal a smug looking Jake. Celestia released her hold on the protective dome and cautiously walked over to where the giant stood, with the others in tow. And before them lay an almost perfect path through the forest, with Ponyville out in the distance. Almost a kilometer of thick forest, obliterated by the sheer volume of dense projectiles fired by the weapon. She even noted a few boulders, cut almost clean in half by the super sonic metal. "Hey, Celestia," she turned around to find herself face to belly of the titan. "I've always wanted to do that, but on a side note," he held out a hand, and pinched in between two fingers sat a bullet. The bullet he had shown them earlier. "As a token of peace and allegiance between my species and yours. I know it's not much, but it's all I have."
Celestia took the bullet in her magic, and smiled back up to the human, "But a token it is, and an allegiance my sister and I are more then happy to have. I just pray that you use your weapons and technology for the greater good of my ponies."
Jake commanded his suit onto a knee, and bowed his head in respect, "Just say the word, Celle."
Luna and Celestia smirked at how this human made a historical event, and then ruined it by giving Celestia a pet name, "You humans are weird, but let us be off. I'm sure you wouldn't like to be late for your party."
"Not a fucking chance!" Jake said as he gingerly picked up a catatonic Fluttershy, and followed the princesses out of the forest.
Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity all stood there in shock of what had just transpired.
Claw picked at birth to bring honor to his king, and bring justice to the enemies of the empire. Recently, he had just completed special training that would allow him to pilot the most recent addition to the empires already swollen stockpile of formidable weapons. This recent year, there had been a huge influx of weapons development and innovation. Some completely insane, others past the point of ridiculous, but the rest... a disturbing success.
As he padded his way through the hangar, he noted gyphon technicians and minotaur laborers either constructing, repairing or modifying some of the most successful weapons platforms known to Equis. And the gryphons were the only species in the world to have them.
The Kloogine.
Large robotic war machines, capable of tremendous firepower with the ability of traversing even the roughest terrain. Not every single machine was the same Ulric noted as he passed one with a simple box with a square view port as a cockpit, then another with large wings that would fold down in front of the machine to protect it from enemy fire. All were more then capable of being his mount, all were proven battle effective. But none caught his attention.
At this point, he caught sight of a titanic being at the end of the hangar. As he neared, he noted that not only was this thing not a being, but a strange looking Kloogine, but it was easily half the size. But that didn't stop the fact that it simply radiated raw, unadulterated power. Just looking at the large robotic death machine made his blood turn to ice.
It was large and vaguely minotaur shaped. The only thing lacking, was that the knees pointed the wrong way, forwards rather then reverse. That and it just looked like it easily outweighed every single other machine in the hanger, even the famed Vanguard heavy defense unit. And next to it on a rack sat a long barreled weapon, easily more then three and a half meters long, dubbing the machine as a sniper unit.
As Ulric took a closer look, he saw that this machine had seen some heavy fighting. Deep gouges and scratches crisscrossed their merry way over the hull, and the knuckles on each hand were also deeply dented and scared. "I see you admire my machine".
Ulric nearly squawked as someone made his presence known, which happened to be right next to him. When he whirled around, he expected to see a lesser warrior, a common soldier, but came beak to belly with something that made his spine tingle. Tall and hairless, with a flat face and pale complexion on its bare, furless skin. He didn't like this creature. "Shove a sock in it gryphon. I don't care if you don't like me, because I dont like any of you pathetic creatures". Then the being leaned down and gave Ulric a sneer that could freeze helium, showing off a set of canines and incisors in his relatively small mouth, "I don't care what squabbles you lot are having, all I care about is revenge. Now, it looks like you're having trouble with finding a mech, am I right in that assumption?". All Ulric could do was nod.
The creature smirked before pointing to a machine in the holding bay next to his own, and Ulric followed his gaze, and he fell in love almost instantly. The machine in the bay nest to the creatures was an extreme rarity, a Crusader. Standard assault rifle clutched in one hand with top and bottom of the weapon having razor sharp edges welded to it, and in the other a large kite shield. Tied around the neck of the machine, a large flowing crimson cape, and its eyes glowed a ghostly silvery platinum. It was perfect.
Ulric then felt the world shake, and whirled around to find the sniper unit from before stomping its way out of the hangar, its armoured feet sending bone jarring tremors through the ground with each step. Weapon in hand, not even looking back. Ulric turned his attention back to his mount, and ogled it with an unhealthy amount of lust.
