"How is he?" asked a voice from the void.
"The mutagens are finally starting to stabilize, Ma'am. His vitals all seem nominal for what we put him through," replied another.
"Excellent. And the output?"
"So far, even I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it. The augmentations seemed to have tripled the aura around him."
"Tripled?"
"I didn't stutter."
My ear twitched as I heard them floating around in the black expanse, vaguely aware they were even there. Where was I? The void around me felt so empty, as if I was floating in it. All was still and so was I, waking into the emptiness’ welcoming hooves.
"But that's... There must be some mistake. We never anticipated that!"
"We never thought he would survive the procedure, either."
I remained as one with the void, motionless and stoic as the voices kept going. They were unwelcome here, imprudent guests interrupting the serenity I was enjoying.
"I can't tell if we should be celebrating or cowering in fear right now. He's beyond what we hoped to achieve."
"Might want to hold off on that party, boss. I’ve got something strange here. His vitals are picking up. Heart rate rising to fifty BPM, mental activity increasing to twenty, no, thirty percent... oh, Celestia."
"What's wrong?"
"I think... oh, Celestia. He's waking up."
"This isn't some B-rated movie, you idiot. Be serious!"
"Ma'am, I'm not making this up! Look!"
Even though I couldn't see them, I could sense the panic welling up in their chests. Shock, awe, and pure unadulterated fear. I was waking up? I wanted nothing more than to return to the void, back to the silence they had taken from me.
"Dear Luna, give him more!" it said.
"We're already giving him too much! Any larger doses of the sedative could induce cardiac arrest and even cerebral scarring!"
"We don't have much of a choice now, do we?"
A choice? It sounded like they had already made the choice to wake me. The grip the void had on me declined rapidly as I discovered I had a body. My hooves—the first things I moved—twitched slightly. They felt so far away from my mind, like they were remotely attached to me. That was when I felt something swish from behind, sweeping against my body. It was long and glided over me like a sheet.
"I'm not crazy! I saw his tail move! The sedatives won't stop this!" the other one said.
My tail? I waited for it to come by again, but the few seconds I spent seemed like an eternity. Refocusing my efforts on moving my hooves, I noticed they felt extremely heavy. It was as if there was something large attached to them, especially my front hooves.
Becoming braver by the second, I decided to see how far I could move them. Without even knowing I had them, I felt my eyes twitch under their lids. Surprised by that, I felt my teeth clamp down onto a soft piece of debris. What was this? Where was I? Who were the voices? Thoughts swirled around in my head as I forced myself to move more, flexing my hooves slowly. My forehead throbbed with a dull pain as more and more questions assaulted me, causing a slow vibration to shake my head and eyes.
"Clear the lab! Get out of here before he wakes!" one of the voices shouted, the clarity of his command overwhelmingly louder than before.
Within the blackness of my vision, a glowing white line appeared in the distance. It was faint and pulsed ever so slowly, but it weaved itself before me like a serpent, forming into a head and body with four legs. The vibrations coming from my forehead intensified as the shape became clearer, causing me to bite whatever was in my mouth harder.
So many things were happening and my mind hurt. It was too much, too noisy and chaotic. All I wanted was the sweet silence I had enjoyed before waking. My forehead vibrated more as I focused on the silence I craved, making it ache with a dull pain.
As if to answer my call, a small but clear cracking noise flooded my ears. The strange white shape I saw exploded into a million tiny white dots before me and reformed just as quickly as it broke into a faint cylinder. The shape surrounded me, like a container of some sort, but a glowing line formed on its surface, right where I was looking. It was small, but grew quickly as it reached out in different directions on the cylinder.
The cracking noise came back louder than before, and I bit down even more on whatever was in my mouth. The pain in my forehead worsened as the lines branched out, almost forming some sort of twisted pattern. It was as if my head hurt the more the lines grew, but then it hit me. Was I making the lines move? A low growl escaped my mouth, making known my determination to find out. I thought about the lines moving around more and, much to my surprise, they did.
I could only think about them for so long, though, as the cracking intensified and the lines shot out into the blackness. The void surrounding me seemed to move, rushing over my body to follow the lines. A massive wave of pain hit my mind as the world moved, causing me to jerk my body. The cracking got louder as I moved my hooves, eventually touching something hard below me.
In a panic, my eyes opened and a stinging white light replaced the soothing black. I threw my head back and screamed from the sudden needles in my eyes, releasing whatever was in my mouth in the process. The wordless noise that left me shook the new world my body had entered, causing my forehead to hurt even more. Pain was all my mind could register at this point; I knew I needed to get away from it.
I moved my hooves, trying to force my body to get away as I shut my eyes, hoping to block out the white torment. I only made two steps before the slick surface beneath me gave way and I fell forward, off the edge of whatever I was on. The fall was brief before I collided with something else just as hard and slippery as before, my body crashing down behind me. I needed the pain to stop and would do anything to make it go away, so I kept myself motionless, hoping the darkness would come back.
Seconds slipped by as I remained where I was, hoping against hope that everything would go back to normal. Much to my dismay, the voices returned.
"Did you see that?" the one asked.
"He... smashed through the glass like it was paper," the other one replied.
"Is he... alive?"
A long silence ensued after that question. Was I alive? To be alive implied I had to have been or should be dead, thus making me alive if I moved. The pain in my forehead began to dull as I stayed in my spot, allowing more thoughts to reappear. If I was alive, then what was I? And once I found that out, where was I? Why was I here?
So many questions that needed answers buzzed around my head, causing me to stir. I tried to open my eyes once again and saw a dark orange color rather than a light. I blinked as I focused on the color, wondering what it was. Cautiously, I moved my hooves again and I heard a scraping sound come from them.
"Sweet Celestia, we actually did it."
I lay still as the sound of hooves on the surface rattled my body, each step causing the orange substance to ripple.
"Contact headquarters," one of them said. "Tell them the project is a success. We have a live Gundam here."
My thoughts froze at the mention of that word, the echo ringing in my ears. A Gundam? Was that what I was? The two voices spoke further, but their words sounded muffled. All I could think of was that name, as if I knew it from somewhere.
"And what about you? We need to find a way to contain him until we can properly control his abilities!" one of the voices shouted, cutting off my train of thought.
"No doubt this facility is already on lockdown. The safeguards had to have kicked in when he broke loose," the other one replied, an eerie calmness in her words.
"That doesn't mean we just send them a message and say, 'Hey, that super weapon you wanted is alive. Please come by and pick him up,' like he's a parcel! He's a dangerous weapon of mass destruction and we don't know if he won't go berserk once he comes to his senses!"
"You assume he won't hesitate to kill us without wanting to know about himself?"
"I assume that, Celestia forbid, if he remembers us, he won't stop to ask us any questions before popping our skulls like water balloons!"
I didn't need any strange sensations in my forehead to detect the panic welling up in his chest. I could hear his heart beating like a drum.
"Calm down. We all knew the risks of this project when we signed up for it. There was always a chance we would either kill all our subjects or ourselves in the process."
"Yes, but I'm most certainly not ready to die yet!"
"Then go," the first voice spoke. "Get out of here and tell the guards the most powerful weapon we've ever forged is loose. All you will accomplish is generating unnecessary panic and perhaps even have him killed. I, for one, am not about to throw away the last seven years of research out of fear for my life. I took this job to save the lives of our future generations and I will see this through, even if it costs me my life."
I only blinked as the voice stopped, thinking about how much I was starting to like that one.
"Celestia, you're stupid! That's exactly what the other group said right before their creation tore them and the place apart!"
"Progress is not without its setbacks. Their sacrifice made our work much safer."
"I will not argue about this with you! If you think this is some self-righteous way of atoning for the other subjects we killed, then I want no part in your martyrdom!"
"Our morals died with those poor souls. All we can do is make sure he's alive and well."
"Buck you, you ass! Go die in a fire! Unlike you, I'm not suicidal and still retain my morals! They volunteered for this just as much as we did, so buck you and buck them too!"
A slamming sound rang out after the voice, followed by a long silence. I remained still, just lying there and waiting. Parts of their speech still rang in my ears, but the only one I could focus on was the word “Gundam.” Deep in the dark corners of my mind, I sensed all my questions revolved around that word. If I was a Gundam, then based on what the one voice said, I was also a weapon.
"Can you hear me?" the voice asked.
I felt the ripples in the orange around me and heard the slow, measured steps that whatever spoke was taking. My forehead throbbed once and I could sense the hesitation present in its heart, an uncertainty if I would even react to it or what I would do. The words of the other were taking effect.
"Young one, can you hear me?" it asked again.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, realizing that I had been breathing the whole time. The dark void would not take me back; I was stranded here in this world of harsh light and anger. The ripples and steps stopped and I could sense the being behind me.
"Are you alive, Gundam?"
At the mention of the name, I stirred. I reached my hooves around, trying to find purchase on anything. The hard surface below me was slick and hard to grasp, but my forehoof found a spot to anchor itself. Once stuck firmly in place, I moved my other front one near it and found a similar spot, one where I could support myself.
With what little strength I could feel in my legs, I forced myself up. The surface felt unsteady and I nearly fell back over, but I somehow managed to prevent that. The dark behind my eyelids was welcome, but once I raised my head, I knew I had to see what made the voice. With much regret, I opened them and embraced the new world.
Much to my surprise, the world was not the gray and orange I had seen before. A wash of blue flooded the left side of my sight with white and red blotches blinking inside it. The harsh light hung above me, making me squint.
What really caught my attention, though, was another being that stood before me. It was slightly shorter than me, smiling weakly from behind a large pair of glasses. A long blonde mane with gray streaks hung from above the eyes of emerald green.
"My goodness," it said. "You are even better than I pictured you."
I turned to look around at the room, taking in what I could. Black tubes hung from the ceiling, next to the lights. More blue squares sat underneath them, each one blinking with a red box and white lines underneath. Various colors within tubes lined the gray next to the blue, some capped and some open.
I slowly looked around until I came back to the being in front of me, staring at me with a hoof covering her mouth. I wanted to make those words to her that she had used before, but I couldn't think of how to. "Ree goah thantoth supril gah," was the best sound I could make.
"Are you... are you trying to talk to me?" she asked, dropping her hoof from her mouth. She placed it on her chest, but retained eye contact with me.
"Chee sono plu," I said, trying to make my voice work. It felt so strange trying to talk, especially when I could form the words in my head.
"What? I don't understand you," she said.
"Rega toof toof eu," I replied.
"Oh no. Don't tell me the cerebral mutagen therapy affected your Broca lobe?" she asked, concern flooding her face.
I could only blink as my mind tried to process that. My forehead began to ache again as I thought, What is that? She froze at that, her eyes quivering.
"Did... did you just say something?" she said, fear filling her voice.
No, I thought.
"Then what was...?"
Her eyes widened to the point I almost found it funny. "You can speak with your mind?" she shrieked.
I don't know. Is this considered speech? I queried.
"Yes! Yes, indeed yes! You can talk! And with your mind too!"
She jumped in place a couple times, a wide grin on her face. "Oh, you have no idea how amazing this is! Not only are you alive, but you retained all your cognitive abilities as well! The tests we ran said there was an eighty seven percent chance you'd be unable to speak or see or even hear, but you can do all of that!"
Gundam, I thought.
"Er, what?" she said, the giddiness draining from her face.
Gundam. What is it? I could see her gulp. Hard.
"Why, you. You're the only Gundam alive."
What am I?
"A pony. Or rather, a weaponized version of a pony."
Weapon?
"It's rather hard to explain, but basically you're a modified version of me. A version meant to do wonderful things," she said. I narrowed my eyes at her and leaned in a bit; I could just tell that smile was forced.
What does it mean? I asked.
"Gundam?"
Yes.
"Well, uh, it's an acronym, really: a shortened name of what this experiment was supposed to produce."
Me?
"Y-yes. It means Genetic Unicorn Newtype Destruction and Assault Master, or GUNDAM for short," she said, averting her eyes from mine. "You were supposed to be one of twenty others, but they—"
Before she could complete her thought, a low rumble echoed through the room. I looked up, noting that the lights hanging from the ceiling were quivering slightly, but I could sense shock springing up through her.
"What was that? Heavy weapon platform testing isn't scheduled until next week..."
The room quaked again, this time more violently. Glass vials shook and fell to the floor, spilling their contents. From somewhere else, shouts and smaller rumbles became audible. The nameless mare spun around and the buzzing in my head told me her shock was morphing into abject fear. My forehead began to throb as the rumbles sounded more frequently and the shouts grew in number.
"No," she whispered. "No, no, no, no, no! They can't have found this place, not after what the Coalition did."
The who? I asked. She spun back to me, fear filling her gleaming eyes.
"The Coalition: the group that funded us to create you," she said. "They gave us their word that we would be protected, that you would be safe."
Why me? I am merely a weapon, as you said earlier.
"No, you are more than that! You are—"
A resounding explosion came from the side of the room as part of opened, She screamed and spun around as three ponies clad in black ran in, firing beams of light behind themselves. Two of them flanked either side of the opening, peering back into it to shoot off more light.
One spun around the room and stopped when it saw us. I could sense the fear coursing through his body, though it was masked by his raw determination to carry out his orders. Even though his face was covered, I could feel the sweat dripping down his brow.
"What are you still doing here?" he shouted over another explosion. "This facility was ordered to be cleared out of all civilians twenty minutes ago!"
"What?" the mare shouted back. "We heard no alarm!"
"Damn it!" he cried as a couple screams echoed from the opening. He turned and ran back to help the others while the mare cowered next to a row of cabinets, leaving me to just stand there and admire everything. Smoke as black as the intruders’ outfits poured in through the opening while they shouted at each other, firing beams of light into the smoke. I could feel the terror in all of them as the smoke continued to come in. I did not like that feeling.
With the dull throbbing in my head getting worse and their cold fear washing through my mind, I sensed something within me pull at my stomach. Grunting, I felt the feeling grow and my senses reached out to the smoke, trying to find some way to get rid of it. If there was no smoke or anything to fight, then maybe they would all return to a more happy state.
Within my mind, an image of part of the wall appeared, outlined in white and glowing red in certain spots. Curious, I focused on the red spot and heard the wall move. Within an instant, I could feel it slam back into place, shutting out the smoke and causing the trio to yelp. Blinking away the image, I saw the them look at the wall before turning to me.
Is that not what you wanted? I asked.
"How the hell did you do that?" one of them asked. "The power was cut to this sector right after we opened the door!"
I do not know. I only wished for the smoke and fear to be gone from this room and the wall answered, I replied.
"Whatever," another said. "At least that should keep them out for a bit while we regroup. Anypony injured?" Nopony spoke after that and the mare stood, still shaking.
"When... when did the attack start?" she asked.
"Not long ago. They got the jump on us and hit several of our outposts. Once we realized we had lost contact, they had already blown a hole in the side of the building and were storming in. We lost at least a third of our forces before we could start to slow their advance, but the torch-and-burn order was given."
"Torch-and-burn?"
"Destroy everything so there is nothing left for them to find,” he said. “No records, no prototypes."
The other two had already moved to the big blue glowing boxes and were moving things around, the screen turning red every time anything was touched. I tilted my head at them, wondering what they were doing, before he approached me.
"What the buck happened to you, son?" he asked, removing the black parts from his head. Beneath it, his blonde mane flopped out onto his face of pure white, pointing down at his crystal blue eyes. "That horn is gigantic."
What do you mean? I asked.
"It's part of a trial run in genotype mutations and affinity amplification,” the mare said. “In order to harness his new natural ability, he needs a conduit far greater than any normal unicorn."
The stallion whistled as looked at me. "If that's so, then that horn must mean you're quite the powerhouse. Explains how you forced a magic-proof door shut without a power source."
"He is the ultimate unicorn."
She nodded to me as if I was to understand this. I merely blinked in response, unsure of what they meant. “Ultimate unicorn?” “Powerhouse?” Did all of this tie back to the name she had given me? The Gundam?
I am Gundam, I said, hoping that one of them would clarify this for me.
"What kind of name is that?" he said. "Gundam? Whatever, the fact you can close that door means you're strong and we need reinforcements until backup arrives. Can you fight?"
"No!" she shouted, causing all of us to turn to her. "He just completed the last round of gene mutation cauterization. If he fights, the strain on his mind and body might kill him!"
"We really ain't got a choice here, Ma'am. Either we need him to back us up, or we all might not make it out of here. Rescuing one civilian in an ambush like this is risky, but two is nearly a suicide mission."
"Please," she said, slowly trotting up to him. "Please don't do it. He's more valuable than me. I'll fight with you, but he needs to be protected."
"Calm down there. Nopony is more valuable than ano—"
"He is!" she screamed. "Do you have any idea what he is? He is the only surviving Gundam, the greatest weapon we've ever forged and the key to our future! A hundred thousand innocent lives were lost before he was made and more will die if we don't protect him! He is the perfect unicorn, the answer to this war!"
Even though I listened to her words, I could sense the emotions riding through her: Sorrow at the deaths she mentioned, fear for me, anger at the pony not understanding and, most of all, hope that there was a possibility to end the conflict. I knew nothing of that, but I felt her emotions ring through me, causing some of her hope to replace the emptiness I felt.
"Gundam? What is that?" the stallion asked. "And the key to our future? What can one pony do that can save us? This isn't some fantasy, Ma'am. This is war and sometimes, the inevitable happens."
"I don't believe that," she said. "There is potential in everypony to change the future. All they need is the ability to do it and I've given it to him." Her hope only grew stronger, infecting me even more.
"Enough. We need to get out of here and fast. We'll protect him, but you need to be willing to fight. No wussing out, got it?"
She nodded and the stallion put the black part back on his head. "All right, Tango and Fenrir, you two take point. Ma'am, you stay near Gundam while I bring up the rear. Enemy contacts are everywhere—if something moves, you shoot to kill. No rogue survivors if they refuse our help. Clear?"
"Roger," one said.
"Understood," the other one said.
"Hold on," the mare said as she trotted to me. "Come with me."
"We ain't got time to screw around anymore, Ma'am! We've wasted enough as it is!" one of them shouted.
"This won't take long," she said as I watched her walk past me. She stopped at what I thought was a bare wall, but she pressed her hoof to it and a blue light surrounded it. The wall beeped twice and began to split open, revealing what looked like a pony, but lacked a face. Around it, a white shining collar and two hoof coverings had wires attached to them, leading off to who-knows-where.
Without a word, she pulled the wires loose and removed the collar before looking at me. "Come here, Gundam."
I rose and trotted over to her, staring into her eyes the whole time. Her hope was still there, but a new feeling of determination washed over me as I stood before her as I sensed it. Like an empty vessel, I felt the determination fill me where the hope had not. She reached up and placed the collar over my head, forcing it down to the base of my neck. I heard it click into place and gasped as electricity coursed through me momentarily. She did the same with my hooves, sending small jolts into me.
"This is the prototype RX-0 psycommu armor, specially made for you and your abilities. It will help guide and harness your magic and will offer latent protection from pseudo-magic attacks. When your abilities fully awaken from the mutation, the armor will respond to your thoughts and spread to fully cover you."
"Damn, why can't we get that?" one of the trio asked.
"Because wearing it alone would destroy your mind and drain your magic to the point of death," she said, leaning over to look past me. "His magic is beyond what is needed to make the armor work and poses no threat to his sanity. He also has specific ports the armor requires to attach to spread throughout his body."
"Okay, sorry I asked. Are you done yet?"
"Yes, I believe it is time to leave this place."
No sooner did she speak than the door blasted open, the explosion knocking over the four ponies. I felt the blast, but the armor kept me in place as smoke poured into the room. Wild shouting and flashes of light erupted around the smoke while I threw myself to the ground. Chaotic emotions filled my mind, each one flitting about like the flashes. Fear, anger, panic, hate, rage, all of them hitting me.
Baring my teeth, I went to rise up when a hoof reached over and touched my shoulder. Through the smoke, I could sense the mare lying on the floor and her feelings of overwhelming pain. Immediately, an outline of her came to me and red spots near her neck glowed violently. It appeared as if the line of vertebrae where her neck met her skull was ruptured, causing her skull to flood with a red fluid. Her heart beat erratically as her breaths came in haggard spurts. She was in pain, more pain than she could ever remember. I blinked and felt my stomach start to pull as she said, "No.. don't. You can't save me."
I leaned in closer to her and thought, Why?
"This is... my reward. I spent my life committing atrocities and... spreading death. You... are my redemption. The one... bright thing I ever made."
Why? What am I? What is a Gundam?
"A Gundam... is hope. Whether you are a weapon.. a tool... or a pony, don't ever forget. You are... hope."
he lifted her hoof and placed it on the side of my face. It was warm and wet.
What am I supposed to do? I asked, concerned with what she would say next. I don't even know who I am other than a Gundam.
Another explosion rang from the opening, much louder than last time and the trio was shouting again. Their fear took root in me as I began to dread what was out there. Still, there was a soothing flow coming from her, the nameless mare who had given me everything so far.
"Only you... can decide... that. I gave... you a heart... so you... could make... your own path. Trust it... and its power... and everything will become... clear," she said, her breath fading.
I leaned in closer and felt something strange awaken within me. It was as if a pang of sadness had hit me, but I could not sense it anywhere around us. All I could feel was the warmth of her hoof and the weight of her words.
I won't let you down, I thought as I stared into her eyes. I will be the hope you want me to be. She only smiled at me as I felt her mind fade away and her hoof slipped from my face. It was cold now, just like my insides.
"My greatest... creation. My... unicorn..." she whispered.
I closed my eyes as it happened. In an instant, the warm feeling was gone, along with everything else. She was gone. I quivered slightly as I kept my eyes closed, wishing for the darkness to come back. My eyes burned as water escaped them, a reaction to the sudden emptiness. I had a name for her now.
I won't fail you. I thought.
"Mother..." I spoke.
Rising to my hooves, I heard the trio scream as another explosion shook the room. Immediately, things started to flood my mind as I felt her words echo in my ears. The area was laid out before me in an instant, white lines and blue dots where the trio was. A large red dot sat outside the opening, the source of the explosions.
I took a deep breath as I felt power begin to surge through me, coming from deep in my chest. I could hear my heart beating in my head, ringing like a war drum.
They took her from me, the pony who gave me a name and life. She had tasked me with being the hope of the world and I could only focus on the red dot. That was where I would begin—destroying that thing.
Opening my eyes, I saw the smoke and ran to it. One of the trio shouted at me, but I heard nothing. Shots of bright lights missed me by inches, but I kept going. Nothing would stop me, nothing but the embrace of the darkness I had come from. The smoke stung my eyes, but I plowed through, right into a pony clad in large green armor. Four gigantic wings surrounded it, as if to act as shields. It wore a green mask with a long point in the center, but it stared at me with a glowing red eye from a black slit.
I charged forward, slamming into it with my full weight. The pony was heavy, but it was completely unprepared for my hit. It reared back and one of its legs wrapped around my neck, holding on in panic.
"What the—?" the pony shouted as it tried to regain its balance. It kicked hard to my stomach and nearly threw my rear legs into the air, but my forehead was already throbbing. By thinking about it, I felt myself lift us into the air, slowly at first, but we gained speed the more the pony struggled.
I weaved through the wreckage of the rest of the place, noting the many bodies scattered about. They were all like Mother, all empty and silent. Somehow, I felt a new emotion boil over the sadness in my chest. It burned like the explosions this pony had made earlier.
"Let me go, asshole!" the pony shouted.
Obliging, I stopped my progress and the pony flew away from me, straight through the wall. It screamed as it tumbled along the ground behind it, eventually righting itself on its hooves. I flew forward again, the burning feeling getting worse as I neared the pony. It was ready this time, though, as the wings snapped shut around itself, forming a defensive line. I slammed into them hard enough that I felt my breath leave me, but I held my hooves out and reached around the wings, grabbing it again.
The pony lifted and smashed into the walls in front of me, one after another. After a few satisfying crunches, the walls disappeared and I found us flying over what appeared to be green hair on the ground. The light became unnaturally harsh and I shut my eyes as I hissed.
The pony struggled again and wrenched itself loose from my grip. It started to fall, but the wings opened and began to flap as it tried to get away from me. Opening my eyes just enough, I was able to tail it as it weaved around parts of the structure we had busted out of.
From below, I could hear the shouts of other ponies and could barely make out the beams that flew at us. I watched as one came directly at my face, but to my surprise, it warped around me as if it intentionally missed. Looking back at the four-winged pony, I kept up my pursuit as it rose higher into the sky. Spinning around, it glared at me with the glowing eye and held up its forehooves.
"Die, you bastard!" it shouted just as green beams shot from the hooves.
I easily dodged them, but the pony shot again and again, getting closer each time. I tried to make my way up to it, but the pony abruptly changed directions and shot at me as I passed by. In my mind, I could see it as a red dot while I was a blue one, each of us moving about in a three dimensional diamond. I had to catch this thing, but it was fast and had more weapons than I did.
Directing myself through thought alone, I weaved around underneath it as the pony struggled to keep itself upright. Shot after shot fired at me, but I deftly dodged them all, feeling as if time was slowing for me as I flew. Things were becoming clearer and I could almost predict where the pony would shoot next, despite me having no idea what I was doing. My heartbeat raced faster and louder in my ears as I felt more energy pour into my body.
Something was happening.
"Hold still, damn it!" the pony shouted as it tried to position itself in front of me.
I moved quickly to my left as another shot flew past, sizzling the air where I once was. As I moved, I felt the armor on me begin to shift on its own. More and more energy flowed within me as I dodged until the pony face me head on.
"Got you now, tough guy!" he shouted as more green lights than before shot out from him. The beams were everywhere and I was sure I couldn't dodge it. As I watched them approach me in slow motion, I heard Mother's voice in my head.
"A Gundam is... hope," she said.
In an instant, so much energy coursed through me that I was sure it would rip me apart. All of me felt alive and twitching, as if every fiber of me wanted to fight.
"Whether you are a weapon.. a tool... or a pony, don't ever forget," she said again.
My body began to shift as the mass of green beams bent around me, weaving off into different directions. I looked down to see bright red lines begin to glow across my body and looked back at the green pony.
"What the hell?" it shouted. "I missed from point blank!" I felt the air begin to move around me as I looked up to the blue sky, Mother's final words ringing aloud.
"You are... hope," she said.
I let loose a shout as my vision went pure white, the world around me disappearing. Power overwhelmed all of my other feelings. My sadness and anger washed away, replaced by the same determination I felt Mother have when she gave me the armor.
My forehead shook on its own as my horn glowed yellow. I felt all of the energy surge to that spot and I was sure it would break. To my surprise, I felt my skull shift as my horn split cleanly in two, falling to either side of my head and pulsing with power.
"My god!" the four-wing shouted. "What the hell are you?"
With the distractions of the world around me gone, it was easy to focus in on the pony. It glowed an angry red against the white and I felt a familiar feeling, like I was back in the darkness.
I am hope, I said with my mind. The answer to the terror you've brought to this place.
"What?" it shouted back.
I will destroy you for taking her from me and for harming all the others.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" it asked.
I could sense it was preparing to shoot another volley at me. Silence ensued as I channeled all my energy into my horn, feeling powerful magic build up at the tips.
"I! Am! Gundam!" I shouted, the energy releasing from my horn into a pulse of magic. My first instinct was to charge the quad-wing before it shot again. I felt my body shift right as a red glow shone around its hooves and wings, bolting straight up as the shots flew past me.
Everything was so clear to me in this state. The subtle movements the pony made informed me of it readying to back up precisely at an angle to get a better shot at me. Not waiting, I dove forward and released another pulse of magic, this one more powerful than before. The wave shook the wings of the pony, causing it to yelp as my hooves collided with them. They dug in from the sheer force of my momentum and the pony faltered, falling under my pressure. We both plummeted to the ground and the rear wings hit first, causing the ground around us to explode into the air.
Jumping off, I set myself down as the pony pushed itself up with its rear wings, staring at me with the angry eye. "Bastard!" it shouted as it charged, slamming into me with the front wings. It was a lot heavier and stronger than I realized, because it managed to push me back a few feet. Without missing a step, the wings flared open and the pony's front hooves glowed with what looked like green beams of light, contrasting with the red I saw it in. It lunged at me, beams pointed outward and I dodged it easily, jumping to the side.
As I thought about whatever those were, I felt the armor on my hooves shift again. When they did, a beam of light similar to the ones the pony had shot out, glowing bright pink. Before I could wonder what they were, my body moved forward and caught the beams from the other pony as it swiped at me.
Our beams clashed and a shower of yellow sparks erupted from them, not stopping us from staring directly into each other's eyes. We pushed against each other for a few seconds before we both backed away and leaped at each other, missing our swipes but landing a kick or two. I sensed it try to swipe at my head and ducked, bringing my beam up to stop the other one from scissoring me.
The sparks flashed again, but I didn't allow it to distract me this time. I spun my body and delivered a powerful kick to the belly of the pony, forcing it back as I righted myself. Unwilling to stop, I charged it again and shot out another pulse of magic, disorienting my enemy as I swiped. My beam caught one of the wings and sliced through it cleanly, causing the pony to shout in pain.
"Damn you!" it roared as it stabbed at me, missing my barrel by less than inches. I could feel the heat from the beams near my skin and jumped straight up, barely avoiding the scissor swipe that would have cleaved me in two. My forehead pulsed with my heartbeat as I backed away from the pony, watching as it tried to compensate for the shift in weight with one wing missing.
As I prepared to attack again, I saw it raise one hoof to me and the green beam shot at me. I stared it down as the beam neared and, with less than a foot between me and it, the beam split apart and fizzled out as it hit an invisible wall. I dove at the pony, but missed as it swiftly used the weight difference to avoid me. The beams were back at its hooves and it gave a powerful swing, but mine was already there to stop it.
We held our beams there as I twisted myself to land on the ground while it tried to stand upright. We stared at each other, refusing to relent while our beams shifted slightly under our strength.
"Just die already!" the pony screamed at me.
In that instant, I felt my mind reach out to the pony and sensed a lot of anger and hate boiling beneath the armor. As if I had triggered something, I felt the pony push back at my mind and force my thoughts out. I gasped at that, feeling myself being fenced in.
"No you don't, Gundam! I am not a regular Zaku!" I heard it shout.
With my mind being attacked, my strength faltered and my beam slipped, allowing the Zaku-thing to knock it away. I fell to the ground and rolled as it stabbed down at me, making fresh holes in the dirt. Standing back up, I prepared to fight more when my head suddenly felt as if it was floating away. I swayed and tried to stay on my hooves, but they were just as light feeling as my head. My beams disappeared and the world started to fade to black around me, the red Zaku-thing being the only light in the darkness. I saw it stand before it vanished completely, the darkness embracing me once again.
