Mechponies

[Trixie the Greatest 130]

(One of another fics I worked on.  Have over three chapters done.  A crosssover of MLP and Battletech.)

 

MECH PONIES

 

By

 

RedDragonKan

 

The battlefield was a desolate wasteland. Years of fighting has reduced the area to dirt and rocks, barely even usable to live of it at all. In the middle of the area laid a battlemech on its back, smoke coming from the engines that refused to ignite after being overheated. It did not help that fuel tanks were empty and the ammunition was depleted. Inside the mech there was a purple unicorn mare, her hoofs frantically moving levers, pressing buttons...anything to make the heavy suit move, but it was for naught. She kept calling in for back up at the same time, but as time passed, she slowly realized that no one would ever come to her aid. She looked through the glass of her mech up to the sky as a group of enemy flyers kept circling above her like vultures to carrion. Sweat kept drenching her brow as continued to force her mech to stand and fight or flee. She watched in fear as one of the enemy fighters suddenly broke formation from the rest and headed straight down at her. Her eyes grew wide, pupils dilating as the fighter prepared a pair of missiles aimed at her. And then...

 

SIX MONTHS AGO

 

Twilight Sparkle trotted towards an empty table levitating a tray of food from the cafeteria kitchen. She liked eating light since it was fast and she could go back to hit the books with time to spare until the next drill called for her to duty. She set down the tray with a plate of chopped carrots, broccoli, and some celery, along with a cup of grape juice and a bag of apple crisps. She began eating when another mare approached her table, and cleared her throat. Twilight looked up to see an orange earth pony with her blonde mane tide to the side. She sported a cowpony hat and carried her own tray with a hoof. Twilight smiled.

 

"Well, hello there Applejack. Having your break early as well?"

 

"Nah, just got hungry that's all..." The earth pony known as Applejack sat down the opposite way to Twilight and set her tray down on the table as well. Unlike the unicorn, Applejack always ate more than what she could fit in her mouth. The tray was nearly full of hay fries, apple slices, a tofu burger, and some chocolate bars. She also brought with her an extra large glass of apple cider to wash it all down. Twilight's eyes bulged at the sheer sight of all the food, something Applejack always found it amusing whenever they met to eat.

 

"Are you going to eat all THAT?"

 

"Of course! Why shouldn't ah kept mahself from turning into skin an' bones?"

Twilight said nothing else and resumed eating, ignoring the loud noises her friend kept making as she stuffed her mouth with helping portions of her meal. By the time they finished, they started a little chat about anything new that happened in their lives at the moment. Even when Twilight met her friend from time to time, they both stayed in different sectors of the base for most of the day.

"So Applejack" Twilight continued "have you heard about the war in the east? Do you know if they are still going to send more of us to strengthen the reserves?"

 

"Ah don' know sugarcube," Applejack said, lowering her hat to cover her eyes. "Ah just know that they gonna send us sometime or 'nother. There's no way to avoid this." The cowpony then straightened on her chair, "'sides, mah brother would've already sent some sort of stress signal if they needed us..."

 

Twilight felt a pang of guilt after hearing this. She had forgotten that Applejack's older brother, Captain Big Macintosh, was currently fighting in the far east of the border. She slunk down on her chair, eyes lowering to the table.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't brought this up."

 

"Don't you worry about it, Twi. Stuff happens fer a reason' after all."

 

The bell rang on the far wall of the cafeteria, indicating a briefing was about to take place. The mares got up from their seats and tossed away what remained of their meal, while resting their trays on top of the table reserved for them. They exited the cafeteria and stopped briefly to look at each other.

 

"Well," Applejack said, "guess we'll see each other later. You take care now, Twi."

"You too, AJ" Twilight said as she turned to canter towards the briefing room "We'll see you later!"

"Later." Applejack said, walking towards the opposite direction to get to her own meeting.

 

NOW

 

It can't end like this... Twilight thought as she prepared for the worst. She shut her eyes tight and waited for the inevitable, when she heard an explosion coming from outside. She opened her eyes to notice that the fighter that was about to fire upon her detonated in various pieces, forming a fireball in mid air. Soon, the other fighters were being hit one by one from the ground. Twilight Sparkle tried to figure out what was happening when her radio came alive.

 

"Twilight? Twilight! Do you copy?"

 

"Applejack! By Celestia, I'm so glad you showed up!"

 

Soon, other missiles were shot at the remaining fighters, who were now trying to escape the onslaught themselves. Twilight received another call in her headset, this time from a different soldier.

"It's alright, Twi! We got them!"

 

"Rainbow Dash?"

 

"And don't forget about lil' old me, silly!"

 

"Pinkie Pie! Am I glad to hear you both as well!"

 

By the time every enemy fighter was dealt with, Twilight Sparkle looked from her mech a trio of hulking machines towering over her from all sides. Her friends. Those who she met back at the base have come to rescue her.

 

"Alright, we'll give you a hoof now, Twi." Applejack communicated "You'll be back at the base in no time at all."

 

Twilight felt tears flowing from her eyes. If she hadn't met them before this, who knows how things would've turned out.

 

ONE YEAR AGO

 

Twilight Sparkle walked through the doors of the base she was assigned to after graduating from the academy months ago. She trotted in the hallway of the building, with her uniform in pristine condition and dragging her suitcase with her magic from behind. Every now and then she would come across a pony to ask for directions to the dorms. Although they didn't seem quite friendly, they nonetheless aid her in what they could. Once in the dorm section of the base, she located the door to the room she was going to spend inside for the next three years. She opened the door and stepped inside with her baggage in tow. She inspected her new dorm out, a desk was near a window, and a TV nailed on the side of the wall, two closets that seemed ample enough, and two beds...one that was occupied at the moment. Twilight blinked at the sound of snoring coming from one of the beds. Whoever was on it was wrapped up to her neck in blankets, her head the only visible part of the pony. She noted that said pony was colored cyan with a rainbow mane that seemed all over her head. Twilight entered inside not wanting to wake the other pony up and set her luggage on her bed carefully. She opened the locks on the case and the click was a bit too loud that she expected. Twilight bit her lip and looked at the other pony, whose ears perk up at the sound and suddenly turned her body to see her.

 

"Who are you?" She demanded, her eyes puffy and stifling a yawn. Twilight sighed and cleared her throat before introducing herself.

 

"My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'll be your roommate so it seems. Sorry for waking you up, I was only trying to get everything ready so I could settle in here."

 

"Nah, its cool," the cyan pony explained "I was about to get up anyway, have to make a few drills in my mech soon. By the way, name's Rainbow Dash. Nice meeting ya."

 

Twilight discovered that when Rainbow Dash was getting up, she stretched her wings to shake off the tiredness. A pegasus, this was different than when she shared a room in the academy with another unicorn filly, Moondancer. Twilight resumed her unpack aging as Rainbow Dash got off from bed and headed to the bathroom. By the time Twilight had her clothes and whatnot stored in a dresser and in one of the closets, Rainbow Dash came out from the bathroom, looking a lot more refreshed and ready to face the day. She walked towards the exit when she stopped and turned her head to talk to the unicorn.

 

"By the way, it might be a good idea for you to wander around the place and get familiar with it. Just beware of Pinkie Pie if you find her along the way, especially if she finds out if you are new here."

Twilight stared at the pegasus with a question on her face. Rainbow just chuckled.

 

"You'll see what I mean. See ya later!"

 

With that, Twilight was left by herself. Not thinking too hard on the last words Rainbow told her, she took her advice of walking around to know the place she was in. First though, she decided to change clothes too look more formal among the cadets of the base. Changing from her academic attire to green fatigues, Twilight exited her dorm and began wander outside on the hallway. Along the way, she met various ponies of all three kinds, getting a nod and some formal greetings as she trotted by. She became idly distracted that she suddenly bumped into another pony while looking to the side. Twilight righted herself and looked to see who she just bumped into.

 

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, I hope-"

 

She was interrupted by a loud gasp that escaped from a pink earth pony in front of her. Before Twilight could register why she did this, the pink pony bounced straight at her face and looked at her with a pair of big, blue eyes with a glint of curiosity on them. Twilight was forced to step back a few paces feeling suddenly intimidated by this sudden approach. However, the pink pony paced along with her, eyes glued to hers.

 

"Ohmygosh! I've never seen you before! And I KNOW everypony in this base! You are new here, aren't you?"

 

"Um...yeah, I'm actually-"

 

"New! This is exciting! I haven't met anypony new for months! I MUST get you to a party to celebrate your arrival!"

 

"A party? Oh no, you see, I am not here for anything like that, I'm-"

 

"But you must come! You're the guest of honor! The VIP! The...the...um, what's your name again?"

"Twilight Sparkle." the unicorn said, containing her composure. "Listen, miss..."

 

"Pinkie Pie!" the pink filly said energetically "This is going to be so much fun, Twi! Mind if I call you Twi? I think it's a good nickname, kinda sounds like pie. Hey! Our names rhyme with each other!"

"Um, I guess so. Look, I am flattered that you want to do this for me, but I really must be on my way. Maybe in another occasion we could have this party of yours. Hope you understand, heh."

Pinkie Pie's mood suddenly dropped to a disdain look on her face. Her lips began quivering as her eyes became bigger than what they were before. By the time Twilight noted that Pinkie's mane seemed to be deflating, she sighed and rolled her eyes.

 

"Alright. I'll join your party. Just not now though, but tell me when's a good time, and I'll join, promise."

"Yay!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, embracing Twilight in a tight hug that threatened to crush her neck. When Twilight thought of trying to pry herself loose, Pinkie Pie let go of her, leaving the unicorn gasping for air.

 

"Don't...do...that again..."

 

"Okie dokie lokie! I'll see you at the cafeteria later on, Twi! Bring Rainbow Dash too!"

Twilight tried to ask her how she knew Rainbow was her roommate, but Pinkie Pie was already bouncing away from her while singing about the upcoming party. Shaking her head about what just happened, Twilight resumed her walk around the base. When she was satisfied, she returned to her room and plopped on her bed, reading a book she brought along to pass the time. Rainbow Dash later entered, looking a bit exasperated but with a smile on her face. The pegasus jumped to her bed and faced Twilight.

 

"So...how did your tour go so far?"

 

"Oh, it was alright," Twilight replied after getting her nose from the book to talk to Rainbow. "Although I did meet the one you called Pinkie Pie...strangely enough, she wanted to throw a party in my honor for being new here."

 

Rainbow Dash facehoofed, a sign that Twilight took was not quite a positive one.

"Sigh, I told you to avoid her. She does this every time she finds somepony new here. Let me guess, she asked you to bring me along."

 

"Uh...I won't if that means anything bad to you?"

 

"Oh no, nothing like that, I am just worried that you might not survive one of her parties. So far, the best that had happened was that ponies just suffered from a dire hangover. Hope you are used to some heavy partying."

 

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck and resumed reading her book. It wouldn't be that bad, would it? Just a simple little party to get introduced to this base and nothing more. What could possibly go wrong...

 

NOW

 

"And then you puked all over the floor, that's what went wrong!"

 

Pinkie Pie kept Twilight cheered up while she was being examined by the base's nurse in duty, a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail. The nurse tried to keep Twilight still as she continued with her work.

 

"I keep telling you Fluttershy, I'm fine! I just got some bruises and a headache after what happened out there, otherwise there's no need for this, really."

 

"That's what everypony keeps telling me," Fluttershy stated "Then all of the sudden, you fall down unconscious for something you neglected me to check. I'm not letting you off until I make sure you are one hundred percent stable. Now hold still."

 

Applejack and Rainbow Dash both were a few feet away from the table where Twilight was being treated. No matter how many times Fluttershy asked them to let the unicorn have some privacy, they all refused to leave. The nurse kept doing her job ignoring them as much as she could handle. Applejack approached Twilight despite getting a stare from the nurse.

 

"Sure am happy you are alive, Twi. Was hard to find ya, but your signal kept us in the right path."

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash interjected "You didn't give up even in the face of death! That just made you 20% cooler in my book."

 

"Thanks girls, I owe you big time. I can't repay you enough for what you did."

"Maybe we can throw a party!" Pinkie Pie bounced in place. The rest of the ponies looked at each other feeling a bit uncomfortable at the mention of that word. Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing and tilted her head in confusion. Just when the pink was about to ask what she said, the curtain opened to reveal a white coated unicorn mare with a vest decorated with war medals and ranks. Everypony, including the nurse, stood in attention. Twilight however tried to get down from the table, but the official pony held up her hoof.

 

"At ease, ladies." she said in a refined tone, "How's the patient, nurse Fluttershy? Is she ready to leave?"

 

"Oh, just a few more moments and she's all yours, Lieutenant Rarity, ma'am."

"I believe she should be just fine by now. If you excuse us, I must get these fillies to an official meeting. Ladies?"

 

Fluttershy puffed her cheeks as Twilight hoped down from the table and joined the rest of the group along with their superior out from the small clinic tent. The nurse relaxed her expression and sighed.

"If she ends up fainting, don't blame me for it!"

 

Rarity led the trio to another tent set up nearby. Once inside they were greeted by another pony, one that had a few more decorations on his vest than Rarity. The white unicorn saluted once she and the rest were next to him, the others following the same example. The blue unicorn pony returned the gesture, then pointed to the monitor screen of one of the computers in the tent.

 

"It seems our last mission didn't go as planned," the unicorn explained "We were round up and forced to retreat in this location, while the enemy kept pushing us to the point that we had to abandoned every other pony behind in the battlefield. Twilight, I hope this doesn't lessened your view on us."

 

"I'm not going to blame you for what happened, Captain Pokey." Twilight admitted "I was very lucky you sent my friends to rescue me though. I am grateful."

 

The captain nodded and then typed a few keys on the keyboard. The image flickered and revealed a new series of screens. Some of them illustrated black painted mechs and air jets. Others displayed maps and pinpointed locations. The rest featured a light blue coated, bright blue maned unicorn mare, wearing a scowl on her face while looking straight at the screen. Captain Pokey pointed with his hoof at the photo of said mare.

 

"This, my ponies is Trixie, self proclaimed great and powerful. She is in charge of the mercenary group that joined forces with the enemy. She is as ruthless as she is cunning. She spearheaded her attack on our last attempt in assaulting one of the enemy's bases. Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, this individual appears."

 

Typing a few more keys, the screen displayed a new photo, this time of a female gryphon with a steel look in her eyes, and a sharp beak. She had a couple of feathers on top of her forehead that gave her a stylish look. Rainbow Dash was the first to register who this was, and her eyes narrowed.

 

"Gilda."

 

"That's correct, Sergeant. The gryphon army suddenly moved to the north, cutting our way to safety in case Trixie managed to cross our defenses. We do not know if they joined forces or are just planning their part in taking over whoever loses. However we don't have much choice other than figure out what their move will be before Trixie decides to strike again. We need a plan that will give us an advantage."

 

"If I may suggest, sir" Rarity intervened "We could send a small group to go around the gryphon army and get intelligence about what they are up to. Maybe they would have the same intention as us in the manner of getting that base that has been a pain in our flank?"

 

The captain looked at Rarity and nodded. "That sounds to be the logical choice at the moment. I trust you have anypony available for the mission?"

 

"By of course," Rarity stated, turning to raise a hoof to point at the rest of the ponies present. "These fillies will do the job just fine."

 

"Now hold on just a dang minute there...er, ma'am." Applejack interjected, "How you suppose only the four of us will be able to sneak over and spy on them gryphons by ourselves? That sounds like suicide!"

 

Rarity chuckled softly and directed her attention to Applejack. "That's right, only four of you to get the job done. Smaller numbers mean a much better chance of success!"

 

The four of them at each other with uncertainty. Rainbow Dash clopped her hooves together after shaking off the feeling.

 

"Well for once I would like to get back at Gilda. I'm in!"

 

"If Dashie goes, I go too!" Pinkie Pie said with utmost gleefulness. Only Applejack and Twilight look at each other for any indication of joining or being left behind. Twilight sighed.

 

"Looks like I'll go too," the unicorn confirmed "Even after what just happened I can't stay back here and do nothing to get our chances in claiming victory."

 

"Alright, ahm sold." Applejack surrendered "Not gonna let you gals get all the glory."

With a cheer from Pinkie Pie, they all turned to their superiors to get briefed on the mission ahead.

In the garage, the four ponies trotted towards their respective mechs led by Rainbow Dash. After giving the go ahead, each one of them suit up with a special suit that resembled a smaller version of their original mechs. It covered their front and back legs, and their back, with a partial helmet covering their heads. When they were all suited up, they began climbing on their bigger mechs, each waving at the other before fully getting inside. After the last pony entered her mech, they all started them up, mechs coming to life as they all switched on their mics.

 

"Alright," Rainbow Dash announced, "Everypony check in!"

 

"This is Alpha 4, standing by!" Applejack checked.

 

"This is Alpha 3, standing byish!" Pinkie Pie replied.

 

"Alpha 2, ready to go, Sergeant!" Twilight finished.

 

"Okay, fillies! This is Alpha 1ready and we all rarin' to go!"

 

The gate opened as they all started marching towards it. Heavy steps leaving an echo of steel meeting the hard concrete floor. The gate once fully opened, it revealed the orange sky as the sun was setting. The light reflected on their mechs as they continued forward to their mission.