The cultist army seemed to take the full hour to prepare. Formations wheeled, hydras roared, drums echoed off of the mountain. When the army looked like it was ready, the three of us marched to the front. “Reaper scared the foot soldiers, Atari. Keep them afraid, but go for the titans.”

“Roger.”

“Kay!”

Trumpets sounded and flags rose. The hour was over. Three regiments of cultists marched forward slowly. Behind us, Shining Armor led the Royal Guard into position to guard the pass. Four wings of pegasuses soared into the air above us. One titan stared at us, pointed a trident at me, and ran a finger over his throat.

“Looks like they’re taking the bait,” Ninja commented.

“Charge.”

The trident wielding Titan charged me, bounding over the battlefield in great strides. Three PPC shots went wide. I twisted at the last moment and the trident bounced off of my right arm. The horrible screeching of twisting steel filled my ears and the computer screamed warning alarms of penetrated armor. I slammed the throttle into reverse while the Titan stumbled and twisted back from the unexpected impact of trying to stab through glass and hitting solid steel. The metal sound grated my ears again as the trident was twisted out of his grip. "Critical hit: weapon destroyed. Critical hit: arm. Critical hit: weapon destroyed." Two of my ppc's went red on my HUD. My right arm was now a very expensive shield. Time slowed and my heart pounded in my ears as the titan came into view and my trigger finger twitched. The twin lasers fired and the giant put his arms up to shield himself from the burning. Once I had the lasers pointed directly at him I fired the missiles. Eight high explosives shrieked out of Midnight's nose and exploded violently when they hit.

The Titan staggered backward, a face full of pain and shock, one arm a shattered stump. Mostly a miss. I took a step forward. Two of the other titans turned and began bounding across the battlefield toward us. The reloading mechanism stopped clicking and pinged as the ammo bay slammed shut. The indicator on the srms turned green on my HUD but I had already pulled the trigger. Eight more missiles fired with the two lasers, and fire filled my vision as the explosion rocked my ears.

The battlefield went still for a moment as the smoke cleared. Everyone looked at the scorch mark where the Titan had been. Twisted charred limbs were left where he had stood. The bloody torso of the titan flew away and impacted messily on the ground, smoldering.

One Titan down for the loss of two guns. Fair trade. Plus I knew their weakness.

"Atari lance, all weapons free. Titans are weak to SRM's and auto cannons."

"Roger!"

"Omega, permission to pilot the Atlas," Ninja called.

"Granted."

"Fuck 'em up for me Ninja," Reaper called.

"Dibs on Atlas," Ninja said.

"No promises," rumbled Big Bear.

"Incoming on me," I called, interrupting bragging time. The other two titans didn’t like me fragging their brother. Too bad.

"Already on him," Big Bear called.

The Kodiak had turned and started rumbling toward me. I turned to the Titan furthest from him and opened with the two ppc's I had left.

"Break off Atari!" Rainbow Dash yelled from outside.

"Rainbow Dash, harmony?" I looked around for her as I asked.

"Harmony!"

"Atari lance, defend the elements."

I slammed into reverse, skidding to a stop. The Kodiak bounded over and swiveled around as the six elements of harmony gathered in front of me. I took aim at the left Titan and started laying down covering fire. The ppc's were still being swirly but he couldn't figure out where to dodge to either. He slowed down and that was all we really needed. I took a moment to glance at the other Titan, who was carrying a short sword and shield. No sign of Atlas.

"Ninja, eyes on Atlas?"

"Negative! Five minutes to mech swap."

"Belay swap, come on back and defend."

"Roger!"

The roar of the Tiger's jump jets met my ears from across the battlefield. I could tell from the radar that he was running back to complete the circle around the elements.

"Your show Twilight!" I called to the elements of harmony. There was no response except for the bright light and rainbow swirl of magic that came from the six multicolored ponies. The swirl of magic grew in intensity as the Wonderbolts swooped out of the sky on trails of fire and lightning and formed an outer circle that flew around our mechs, keeping the other ponies away from the elements while the two titans circled around to attack the weak point in our defensive circle. The Tiger roared into the air and landed with a thud to complete the defense.

"Sorry I'm late Omega."

"Right on time Ninja."

With an explosion of radiance that would have made Reaper guffaw, a rainbow trail shot away from the center of the circle and completely enveloped the gladius wielding Titan. It wrapped him up like a ribbon, tightened, held him aloft, and popped. The Titan was gone, along with the rainbow trail.

Two.

The Wonderbolts shot off again after a brief salute and went after another group of imps. At least the air battle looked like it was well under control.

The other Titan charged at the Tiger, probably going for the smallest target. Big mistake. Big Bear fired an auto cannon shot which hit but seemed to be mostly absorbed by the titans elaborate breastplate. He jumped to lunge at Ninja.

Ninja roared into the air, spun around on trails of plasma and landed behind the Titan. The giant impaled the ground and span around to face his attacker.

Sixteen lasers radiated out of the Tiger and across the Titan's breastplate. The metal seemed to melt off of his chest as Ninja sliced through it cleanly.

"Open!" Ninja yelled.

Big Bear's auto cannon barked as the ear piercing shriek of twelve homing srms launched from the Kodiak's chest. The Titan staggered back, trying to cover himself and the Kodiak lunged forward with a laser firing arm, followed quickly by a punch from the other arm. The Titan went flying, trailing blood and chunks. "Target down."

Three.

The Kodiak slid to a stop, turned around and walked back to the formation with no fanfare. The enemy ponies in the regiments surrounding us backpedaled from the horror of the scene. I looked around. The elements of harmony were staring in horror at the death of the third Titan. Blood dripped from the Kodiak’s claws. The fourth Titan was directing the army. Atlas was nowhere to be seen.

The Kodiak became surrounded with a black glow. "Twilight!" I yelled into the external speaker.

The elements shook off their fear and flew. Rainbow Dash shot up and looked around, then pointed out the casters. Applejack and Twilight Sparkle charged. Pinky Pie disappeared. Rarity put up a magical shield while Fluttershy turned around and glared at the approaching foot soldiers, who stopped. Must have been some glare.

All at once, Rainbow Dash fell from the sky onto a group of unicorns in the Titan cults signature black cloaks, Twilight blasted the three of them with her horn, Pinky Pie emerged from the other side of the chaos with a large pink cannon that threw them forward in a burst of confetti, and Applejack came in to deliver a kick that knocked one flat. The black glow vanished. "Big Bear, you with us?"

"Yeah." He didn't sound strained.

"Roger. Eyes open Atari, they'll probably try that again." I hit the external speaker. "Thanks Twilight."

Rainbow Dash flew up to us. "Where to next Commander?"

"Now we stop the hydra and demon assault. Any sign of Atlas?"

"No." Rainbow Dash shook her head.

"That won't be good." I gritted my teeth. Celestia and Luna had the city defense. The royal guard and night guard could take care of a unit working up the windy narrow path, and two goddesses were more than a match for a single Titan. I couldn't worry about that now. The equestrian army was taking losses and it was time to take away another cultist toy.

"Omega to Ninja, swap for the atlas."

"Roger."

"Negative Omega, busy!" Reaper called. Busy? He sounded like he was in a convertible, wind whipping past the mouthpiece.

"You coming back Reaper?"

"Busy!" He shouted back.

"Reaper!" No response. Luna watch over you, I thought.

"Atari lance, on me, were going for the hydras."

"Roger!"

"Joining."

We made quick work of the hydra siege with Twilight's guidance. Turns out you can just spear a hydra's heart with lasers, and it's quicker and easier than having to cut all of its heads off. The Tiger became a one man wrecking crew, flitting around the battlefield and lancing hydra's twice as fast as Big Bear and I could kill one.

Fluttershy disappeared halfway through the fight, and then very quickly so did the rest of the hydras. I froze in fear when I glanced down at her and accidentally caught her eye for a moment, then her all encompassing death gaze was gone and the meek yellow pegasus was looking down apologetically. Yeah, that was some glare.

The demon forces had moved forward to assault the path with the remaining army, though it looked like the royal battle casters were holding the line with the royal guard. I was sure we were taking losses now.

"Omega to Reaper, status?"

"Busy!" Reaper screamed. The hum of nuclear reactor, gyroscopes and 100 ton footfalls were in the background. Ahhh shit. He'd gotten back into the atlas.

"Atari lance, back to the mountain, best speed!"

My unit had already turned, having heard what I did. "Rainbow Dash, clear us a path! The hospital is under fire!"

The rainbow pegasus saluted briefly in front of my cockpit then shot off like a rocket toward Canterlot mountain. The shockwave alone pushed several ponies out of the way.

"Damn she's fast," Ninja commented as the Tiger shifted its path to follow the clearing.

"Gonna miss having her around," Big Bear agreed, "Omega, can we hire an aerotech wing?"

"Maybe, I'll shop around." I hadn’t seen the use for one until now.

Two things happened quickly. First the Atlas came up on radar on the ridge, then several large things came up on radar, approaching us quickly from the east across the battlefield.

"Ninja, get eyes on that mass behind us. Reaper, please tell me that's you in the Atlas."

"Yeah Omega. I'm joining defense up here."

"Good luck."

"Omega, demons. Second wave," Ninja added with a bit of fear in his voice.

I flipped to the external speaker. Thing was getting a workout on this mission.

"Twilight Sparkle, demons incoming."

Ninja clarified. "Two stars of demons from the east, three regiments of ponies, no sign of the leader." Ten demons, a few hundred more cultists, and no titans.

"Roger Ninja." I looked around. The path was predictably the site of an actual fight between the two armies, but without titans and their siege equipment they didn't seem to be making much progress. The west was clear, the army was advancing pretty uniformly from their treeline. They didn't seem to have much beyond a funnel of cultists trying to take the pass. "Atari lance on me. We're holding the demons away from the choke point."

"Roger!"

"Rainbow Dash, find us that titan!" The rainbow blur zipped past my cockpit and shot off into the sky. "Twilight Sparkle, stay behind us and hold the line!"

"Okay!"

My two ppc's kept missing my target, but with ten demons to hit I would occasionally nail one anyway. I wished I had all four. Big Bear followed up with his single large laser when I would get a hit. The big winged horned creatures would snarl and hide behind the bubbles of force their spell casters threw up.

"Take em out fast, but save ammo for the two titans."

"With pleasure," Big Bear growled.

The demons advanced, down one, and charged when they got close.

"Targets marked and shared. In order, start with A," Ninja called. Our computers popped up a letter over each demon on our hud. Demon A stepped into range of our rockets and was met with several dozen explosive projectiles. He exploded messily all over his companions. "B," Ninja called, and began pelting C with lasers.

"Hold the line Big Bear," I called. The Kodiak had been inching forward, and took several steps back. We fired again and the second demon exploded as the third found his head without a torso from the Tiger's laser fire.

" D." F charged into range and the Tiger fired again, dropping that one. Big Bear fired again, cannon tearing giant holes in the D demon without my help.

"One star down, keep it up." The second group was almost to us. "Ready Twilight!" A purple dome spread out behind us.

"E." G went down to more lasers as the Tiger roared into the air and moved to drop behind another. My rockets and lasers forced the E demon to stagger. My two remaining ppc's actually hit home and left a crater where the demon had been. J lept into the air on blood red wings after the Tiger and clawed at the steel armor as laser fire cut off an arm.

"H" Ninja called with some strain in his voice. The ponies behind the demons had stopped in horror as we systematically slaughtered their shock troops. Demon H ran up and slashed the Kodiak with a wicked scimitar. Big Bear blocked with an arm, and the horrible metal on metal grating sound rang across the battlefield. Big Bear's cannon rang followed by a laser punch from his good arm, knocking it flat. He reached down and picked up the scimitar in his metal hand and swung it experimentally.

"J, help." The demon and the Tiger landed with a thud, and Big Bear lumbered over and slashed it with his new toy, eliciting an unearthly scream as the sword lit on fire. The Tiger turned and fired all of the small lasers through its head. I fired rockets and lasers at demon I, and Big Bear followed up with a cannon round and it exploded.

I took two steps forward and hit the speaker.

"Run." I fired my two lasers at the ground in front of the shocked cultists. They didn't move and one glanced to the right at nothing.

I fired. The cultists had their warning. In response the SRM’s exploded prematurely, I heard a scream, and my mech twisted to the right suddenly with a deafening clang. The missing titan appeared out of the smoke with burns across his gilded armor and he pulled his gigantic warhammer back for another swing. Warning sirens blared in my ears, someone just got through my armor. He was knocked off balance by a rainbow blur and knocked over by a purple beam. "Go Twilight!" I yelled.

The rainbow swirl started again. The titan looked angrily at me, then saw the ponies and lunged. Too late. The rainbow wrapped him up, lifted into the air, and exploded in confetti and sparkles.

Four.

My mech claimed massive damage to the nose armor. I'd have to stop blocking hits with my face. The cultists looked at us in fear. I hit the throttle and managed two steps forward before they all turned and bolted. That just left the entire regiment at the pass to get through.

"Thanks for the save Dash, can you make us a hole?"

"On it! Twilight, get your brother to move before I go through." Twilight nodded, looking strained, and disappeared. I saw a purple flash by the pass and hoped that was her. Rainbow Dash shot into the air.

"Omega to Reaper, eta three minutes. Hold tight."

"Less ta-"he interrupted himself with the roar of missile fire "-ore running. Stri-" loud bark of the autocannon "-nit with casters and titan." The autocannon fired again followed by the missiles. Reaper was already in combat, and he was still wounded.

The royal guard holding the pass was maneuvering, slowly opening up a hole in their center defense. "Atari lance, charge the pass now, best speed!"

"Through the royal guard?"

"Trust the ambassador, they'll move."

"Through the cultists?" Ninja asked as the Tiger lurched forward.

I glanced up and grinned. The rainbow contrail of Rainbow Dash was looping overhead in a great arch and coming back down fast.

"Charge, follow the hole Rainbow Dash makes."

Ninja must have looked up, because the Tiger sped up. "She's gonna put me out of a job. Cmon idiots, look at the big scary mech." The cultist casters and infantry at the rear of the funnel turned and stared at the approaching titan. Ninja chuckled "hah, suckers." Just as some of their horns started glowing, the rainbow streak shot past us. The rainbow shockwave that came with it rocked us, but slammed into the casters and tossed them to the side as the patented Sonic Rainboom hit. A white glow surrounded the royal guard and protected them. A purple glow surrounded the three of us, and I looked down to see Twilight pushing a shield spell over all of us.

"Don't stop for anything Atari."

"Roger!"

---

We tromped past the command tent. Princess Celestia looked out and took wing. She flew up to my cockpit as several guards and an aide rushed out to protest. "Chris, what's wrong?"

"Reaper is defending the hospital from something, and Atlas has disappeared. I smell our sneak attack."

"Good luck."

"Wish we could get there faster."

Celestia grinned, then dropped down to Twilight. "Twilight, I am going to transport you all to the hospital."

Twilight nodded, and Celestia looked back up at me. "Stop for a moment, Chris."

"Full stop Atari. We're getting a ride." The Tiger roared to a stop with jump jets and had to fly back to us. Celestia closed her eyes as she started to glow as bright as a star. I heard Applejack groan. "Oh not this again."

---

When the flash of light cleared we were standing by the field hospital. There were signs of Reaper's handiwork everywhere, small craters, scorched rocks and parts of ponies in bloody smears. There were giant holes ripped in the tent, wounded ponies cowering from the cloaked unicorns. However the night guard were between the tent and what was left of the cloaked cultist unicorns, sparring occasionally. Atlas himself stood facing off with the goddess of the night. Both looked tired but determined. Our Atlas stood with weapons trained on the titan, and when I looked again Atlas was bleeding and hiding his left arm.

"'Bout damn time," Reaper said.

"Harmony time," I called through the speaker. Rainbow Dash dropped from the sky and joined the other five. The glow began to surround them almost immediately.

"Not again," Atlas growled. For the first time he looked out of control and genuinely angry. He lunged forward at the circle of glowing ponies, but met with a black sphere of force, surrounding a grinning Luna.

"Every time thou willst dare to sully Our kingdom, thou willst be struck down Atlas," Luna called with an echoing bellow.

Atlas lifted his spear. "I killed your mother with this spear, little Luna-" whatever else he was going to say was cut off as Luna screamed and a black ray shot out of her horn at Atlas. Black shields formed around Atlas, but the ray struck the spear. The titan's weapon shattered. Luna yelled with the commanding boom we had heard when we showed up and Celestia had commanded everyone. "No more, Atlas!" The shout echoed off of the mountainside. She landed next to the shield, kicked it with a single hoof and it shattered like glass. She continued with slightly less shouting than before. "Our magic is that which thy forces command. Our realm is that which thou hast twisted to bring thy brothers back time and time again."

"This world is not yours to possess!" Atlas shouted, punching the black bubble surrounding Luna to punctuate, but he bounced off and stumbled. Luna gave his feet a quick blast of magic and knocked him down. She laughed darkly and stepped forward to stare down at Atlas.

Luna stood over the titan, her back to the three of us. There were a lot of ponies, ours and theirs, between us and the tent of wounded. Only Reaper looked like he had clear line of sight without obviously moving to attack. I keyed the radio. "Reaper, you got the shot?"

"If Luna gets hit, he dies."

"It is ours to rule, and thou willst be watching from Tartarus.” Luna lifted her head in a royal proclamation. “Release the elements of harmony."

"No!" Atlas screamed and reached for his neck. He yanked at a chain necklace and disappeared in a flash of light. Twilight and the others began to glow brighter, then faded as the magic stopped. Luna glared at the remaining forces.

"Thy leader hath forsaken thee. Surrender."

Spears dropped almost instantly. Two unicorns began casting a spell and Luna teleported in a black flash and kicked them to the ground. Both toppled and didn't get back up. "Thy method of surrender is foreign to us,” she said with disturbing calm, “wouldst another care to demonstrate it?" The sickly sweet threat flowed off of her tongue. The remaining cultists went from surrender to cowering. The night guard began taking prisoners.

"Damn, that's old school," Big Bear commented appreciatively. I noticed Twilight and company relatively unnerved by her display, but I didn't see any sign of Atlas.

"Shit, where did he go."

"I shoulda fuckin' offed him. He's not doing that again." Reaper sounded mad at himself.

"Later Reaper, you'll get your chance. Head for nav bravo, Atari."

"Roger!"

"Twilight Sparkle, where did Atlas go?"

"I-I don't know Omega!"

Princess Luna floated up to my cockpit, looking pissed. "The gates of Tartarus. That is his fallback plan. Make no mistake, he will unleash all of Tartarus if it means destruction of our kingdom." Her voice still echoed like she was proclaiming things.

"You're sure?"

"That talisman teleported him, and had the smell of Tartarus about it. We are certain." She looked down at the battlefield. "We are no longer needed here. We will stop him. Make haste, Atari lance, make haste for the gates of tartarus." She disappeared into her own shadow.

Twilight looked ready to panic. "No, not again..."

I ignored her for the moment. "Atari lance, back to nav alpha. We're headed east."