//------------------------------// // Regrouping // Story: Magic Gear Solid: Broken Balance // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// "... and that's just about all you have to remember.", Vinyl finished her brief lecture on "sneaking". "You ready to go now?" Twilight wished she'd read a book on the subject of stealth infiltration. She shook the idea out of her head; she needed to focus on the here and now. "Yes. Let's get going", she said. They opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. The lights were off and the air was frigid as they walked. "Gaurds showed up in town a couple days ago by train and started rounding folks up, don't know where they're taking them.", Vinyl explained as they walked. "Ponies that resisted got beaten, severely and then hauled off." Twilight felt a rage burning inside her stomach. Her body warmed against the cold hospital air. They reached the door to the stairwell and opened it. Vinyl heard footsteps traveling up the stairs, too few between each step to be a pony. "Dogs heading up the stairs. We're going to have to get out by the roof.", Vinyl whispered. They climbed the stairs up to the top floor, trying to be as quiet as they could. Thankfully, the footsteps stopped at the second floor and they heard the door open again. "They must be doing a floor-by-floor search.", Vinyl guessed. They exited the door at the top of the stairs into the rain. "The pegasi have been making it rain since the dogs showed up. They must be trying to see if that metal they're wearing rusts. It doesn't look like it.", Vinyl said. Using her magic, Vinyl ripped open a cover to the air conditioning conduits. "All right, in.", she said. Twilight peered into the shaft in front of her. It was so dark she couldn't see down it but she didn't hesitate. She climbed in and slid down, Vinyl climbed in right behind her. They began crawling forward on their bellies through the metal shaft. "It's too dark to see. Let's light up the way.", Vinyl set her horn glowing, Twilight did the same. They continued crawling, the glow from their horns giving them enough light to see. Occaisionally, they came across vents that filtered air through the hospital. They spared only quick glances through the vents before crossing over them, careful that the dogs didn't see them through the vents themselves. After sliding down another time, they finally reached another vent covering facing them, a way out. Twilight removed the blots carefully with her magic and popped the covering off from the inside. She spared a quick glance outside before they both exited the air conditioning conduit to the street. "All right, follow me and stick close.", Vinyl said. Twilight followed Vinyl as they trotted through Ponyville in the rain from the outskirts of town into the main thoroughfairs. The dog soldiers mostly kept to the main roads so they were easy to avoid. Some occupied houses, busted down doors and entered. Twilight stopped when she saw the ransacked Sugarcube Corner. Vinyl had to motion her to keep moving. Twilight worried about her own library, hoped Spike and Owlowicious were okay. The rain continued at a steady pace as they reached Vinyl and Octavia's house. Vinyl placed a hoof on the door and it slowly slid open. "Something's wrong. The door should be locked.", Vinyl said. She opened the door and both of them stepped inside. It was dark and they heard rustling as they entered. Twilight shut the door quietly behind her. They followed the sounds to the kitchen to see a dog soldier rumaging through the fridge. "Hey! Get out of there!", Vinyl said. Vinyl used her magic to close the door to the fridge, almost on the dog's face. He dodged it by a fraction of a second and slid to the floor. Vinyl fired a red spell from her horn at him but the armor deflected it. "Hit him with a spell Twilight!", shouted Vinyl. Twilight fired without hesitation. They both bombarded him with offensive magical spells, ones designed to put individuals to sleep, paralyze them or knock them out. The spells bounced off the armor and into various things around the kitchen, blasting cupboards and cabinets. The dog soldier got to his feet quickly and aimed an arm at the ponies. As he was about to fire, Twilight used her magic to pull down on the top of the refrigerator. Vinyl quickly joined in and the fridge fell on the dog, knocking him out finally. "What in Luna's name is going on down here?", Octavia said from behind as she witnessed the display. "Tavi! Thank Celestia you're okay.", Vinyl sighed in relief, hugging her friend. "I'm all right Vinyl. What was one of them doing in the house?", Octavia asked. "Dunno. Looks like it was going through the fridge. Trash too. He must've been hungry.", Vinyl thought as she noticed the trash bin in the kitchen knocked over. "I was upstairs working with our audio equipment. He must've snuck in while I was busy.", Octavia said. "That's why I brought Twilight. You need to see what we're doing here.", Vinyl said to Twilight. She and Octavia led Twilight upstairs to Octavia's bedroom. Octavia took a seat at a desk in the corner by the window. Twilight and Vinyl looked over her shoulder at what she was doing. What looked like pieces of audio equipmen were strewn about the desk. Octavia picked up a half-moon shaped piece of metal with speakers attatched and pulled out a modified speaker of mini-amplifier and placed it on the desk. "Are you there? We picked Twilight up from the hospital. Anypony reading me?", Octavia spoke into the half-moon. The speaker squawked and then a voice spoke from it. "Yeah, this is Spitfire. Glad to finally hear some good news.", Spitfire said over the device. "Twilight, let me fill you in on the situation, as much as we know. Canterlot's been covered in some kind of energy shield. There's no way in or out that we can tell. You're going after the Elements of Harmony in the castle right?" "Yes. It's our only option.", Twilight said. It was the only thing they had left in their arsenal, their last card to play. But with the way the armor deflected spells, she had her doubts about it. She didn't let them surface though. "That's what we figured. We've got a plan to open up that shield but we need your help to pull it off.", Spitfire explained. "We're going to use Cloudsdale's Tri-Tesla Reactor to break open that shield." "The Tri-Tesla is used to charge clouds with lightning. It's an enormous generator that also supplies power to Cloudsdale.", Vinyl clarified. "I set the reactor to overcharge. Over the last couple days, it's been building up to dangerous levels. When it reaches maximum, we're going to discharge it on that shield. It should be enough power to break it open.", Spitfire said. "You're sure that it's going to work? Too little power and all you'll do is draw their attention. Too much and you could damage Canterlot.", cautioned Twilight. "We're pegasi Twilight. We know a thing or two about lightning. We know know their technology is immune to magic but it's very susceptable to the weather. Right now, we're moving Cloudsdale into position using the rain as a cover. We need you to get to Canterlot so we can put our plan into action.", Spitfire said. "I'll do whatever it takes.", Twilight said, determined. "That's what I want to hear. We're going to send some pegasi to escort you up to Cloudsdale. They'll meet you at the train station when you're ready. You'll need the skywalking spell though.", explained Spitfire. "I've got that covered. We'll be in Cloudsdale soon.", answered Twilight. Octavia put the half-moon object down and the speaker switched off. "Me and Tavi are going to be staying in Ponyville Twilight. You might need some ears on the ground too. Here, take this.", Vinyl gave Twilight a smaller half-moon object. "You can use it to keep in contact with us." "Just be safe both of you.", Twilight told them both. She hugged both of them and then left the house. "What are we going to do about the dog in the kitchen?", Octavia asked. "I have a couple ideas... I wonder if he likes music?", Vinyl said with a chuckle.