//------------------------------// // Squadron Omega // Story: Sunset Imperishable // by EldritchNexus //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer beat her final adversary as hard as she could with her hooves, and looked down at his masked face. "Okay..." she panted. "Talk. Who are you, why are you here, and who sent you?" The mercenary took a deep breath. "In the proper order." he said, in a low voice. "One: None of your business. Two: None of your business. And three: Kiss my--" "Answer my questions!" snapped Sunset, she raised one of her front-right hoof to punch the mercenary, when suddenly another armored hoof stopped her; it seemed that someone else had snuck up behind her with anyone present noticing. "I'm afraid that just won't do..." said another voice. "My lady." "You fools have nothing on moi!" Trixie proclaimed as she telekinetically levitated the two mercenaries above the table. "Yeah, what...she said." said Teddy, whose face was bruised and bandaged from the fight. "Now unless you want to be humiliated further, I'd recommend--" Suddenly, the door swung open again, and five more mercenaries entered the room in a "V"-formation. "That you drop our boys before we drop you." said the mercenary in the middle. "I can take 'em, Trixie." said Teddy. He galloped towards them, shouting "Geronimo!" He struck one of the mercenaries on the head, knocking off his helmet and mask. His face had bruises around his right eye, which was mismatched; the left eye was silver while the right was gold. "I'm going to enjoy gutting you like a fish." he told Teddy, who gulped. He lifted a bladed hoof, and swung it at Teddy, who ducked slightly too late, as his orange mohawk-styled mane was split at the top. Then Trixie telekinetically threw the two captured mercenaries into the other four, and rushed to Teddy's side. "Nopony hurts this pathetic worm, but me." Trixie said, placing a hoof over Teddy's shoulder and around his neck. "Worm this!" one of the other mercenaries said, brandishing a whip from under his body armor. He lashed out, and the whip coiled around Trixie's neck. He pulled back, and started to choke Trixie. Teddy jumped forward to tackle the mercenary, who ascended to the ceiling with his wings. Teddy crashed into the wall behind the mercenaries, who all started to hover and flap their wings. The whipmaster flew up, grappling Trixie, who still had the whip caught around her neck. He let her fall without letting go of the whip, intending to break Trixie's neck like a hangman on a noose. But Trixie grabbed onto the whip, and pressed her glowing horn against its length. The whip caught fire and snapped in two. The longer end flipped back, and hit the whipmaster on one of his own wings. "Yow!" he shrieked in pain. "You cheating harlot!" He dropped down to the floor, brandished another whip--this one made of links of silver chain. He raised it over his head, poised to lash at Trixie with all his might, when suddenly it glowed and coiled around the whipmaster's own neck. "I...really...hate unicorns!" growled the whipmaster as he struggled to break free. "So sue me." smirked Trixie. Pressure Point woke up on a cold metal surface, his vision still blurry. It took him a moment to realize he was in the cargo area of the Summerstar, and that he wasn't alone; Some of these mysterious mercenary-ponies were standing guard around him, as well as two or three other ponies that were apparently subdued by these intruders. "This one's just woken up." said one of the mercenaries, raising a hoof-blade. "Lemme fix that." "Don't bother." said another. "It's not like he'll be going anywhere anyway." "Who the devil are you?" moaned Pressure. "What's...going...on here? And what...what's that ticking?" He turned his head, and saw a TNT barrel with sticks of dynamite strapped around it. Attached to the dynamite was a ticking clock-like device. "Oh, no." said Pressure. "Don't worry, that one's not meant for you." said a rough voice. Pressure looked up, and saw a mercenary stooping over him, his masked face glinting like the hide of a Changeling. "What is going on here?" asked Pressure Point. "Who are you?" "You may call me Zed." said the mercenary. "Master Zed. I take it you've all been introduced to my mercenary force, Squadron Omega." One of the other ponies stirred themselves awake. It was Radiant Dawn, who was struggling to stand himself up, but one of the other mercenaries pinned him to the floor. A door opened, and a couple of other mercenaries entered. One of them was carrying Sunset Shimmer on his back. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be unconscious. "Hey..." Radiant asked wearily. "What did you do to my sister?" "Relax." said one of the mercenaries. "She still lives...for now." "What's going on here?" "Your retribution." said Master Zed. "Nothing more, and nothing less. Everyone aboard this zeppelin has been deemed a threat to my employer." "Your employer?" repeated Radiant, groggily. "So who sent you? The Changelings? Was it Summerset? The Neo-Templars?" Master Zed brandished a hoof-blade and held it to Radiant's neck. Radiant paused without another word. "Smart." Zed told him. He started to pace around the captives. "Your friends and family are being apprehended as we speak." Zed said to Radiant and the unconscious Sunset. "'E.O.H.'...that's what our employer calls your little...team." "'E.O.H.'?" repeated Radiant. "Like the 'Elements of Harmony'? You got the wrong ponies. We have nothing to do with--" "We know." said Master Zed. "But that's not what we're here for. In this case, 'E.O.H.' stands for 'Equestria's Other Heroes'." "Why?" "Because that's exactly what all of you are." said Master Zed. "Back-up. Reinforcements that Equestria can potentially rely on if the real saviors should fail." "How flattering." said Pressure Point, rolling his eyes. "I would actually say 'pathetic'." said Master Zed. "I know, right?" snarked Pressure, getting back up. "Somepony actually went to the trouble of taking a hit out on this flying circus that I've found myself lumped with on more than one occasion. Not to mention they actually thought that we were on par with the Elements of Harmony enough to give us the same initials." "Anything is possible, doctor." said Master Zed. "My employer knows this more than anyone I've ever met in all the long years I've lived in Eqjuestria." "Who's your employer?" asked Radiant. "Why bother telling you when you're all going to die, anyway?" asked Master Zed. "Open the hatch!" One of the other mercenaries hit a switch on the wall, and the cargo bay door opened. The wind was howling, and cold air and water spilt into the room. "What, are you gonna throw us out of our own airship?!" "No." said Master Zed. "We're dispersing ourselves away from here." Lightning Dust stirred, indicating she regained consciousness. One of the mercenary-ponies grabbed the timed charge and flew out of the room. Several of his comrades dove out over the treetops below; apparently, the Summerstar had managed to emerge out of the thunderstorm over the eastern coast of Equestria. "Why?" asked Radiant. "Because our work is done here." said Master Zed. "We've rigged bombs to detonate the ballast systems of your zeppelin. After that, all kinds of things will happen." Suddenly, there were several bright flashes of light coming from the corridor, followed by shouting and grunting. One of the mercenaries fell into the cargo bay, and was sent hurdling out of the open door, hollering maniacally as he went. "You're going to pay for that dearly." said Master Zed. "Starting with her." Master Zed approached Sunset Shimmer, who appeared to still be unconscious. He lifted a bladed hoof, poised to strike. Before Radiant could do anything, Zed lunged forward...only to be blocked by the hoof-blade of one of the other mercenaries, the one that carried Sunset into the room. "Not so fast, ya codfish." said Sunset's savior. "Now!" Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes, sprang back up and started blasting at the other mercenary-ponies. Golden Sun, Frosty, Scarlet Blaze, Maud Pie, Crimson Blade, and Sunflower all rushed in to join the fight. Sunset Shimmer and the turncoat helped Pressure Point, Radiant Dawn, and Lightning Dust out of the open area, while the latter simultaneously blasted more of the mercenaries out the open hatch. "You go help the others." said the turncoat. "I'll take care of Zed." "It doesn't matter." said Master Zed. "I've already won. In a matter of time, this whole airship is going to be a cloud of fire over Baltimare." Master Zed darted backwards, made a dive out of the airship, and disappeared. "What did he mean?" asked Radiant Dawn. "It means that if we don't hurry up and find those other bombs, this whole thing is going to be blasted to--" Sunset began. BANG! BOOM! CR-RRRACK! The Summerstar started to shake uncontrollably. "What was that?!" exclaimed Pressure Point. A trail of smoke issued into the cargo area from the corridor beyond, and an alarm rang. There was another explosion. "Dat came from the engine room!" shrieked Frosty. "I gotta get to the bridge! Whoever else can go, find out where the other bombs are!" He galloped madly through the corridor, fighting through the superheated steam and blinding smoke that filled most of the airship at this point. When he finally made it to the bridge, he found Nose Nip grappling with yet another pair of mercenaries. Frosty quickly blasted them off of his friend, and helped him up. "Thanks, I owe you one." said Nose Nip. "You can pay me back by not letting this thing crash or blow up!" said Frosty. "What's the damage?" "Engine one's been disabled by that explosion just now, and judging by the alarms, we've got fire in the cargo and maintenance decks." summarized Nose Nip. "Frosty, you think you can find a way to put them out before they blow up the fuel tanks?" "Got it!" nodded Frosty, who ran up a nearby ladder to the maintenance hatch. Nose Nip seized the steering wheel, and pushed forwards on it so that it would descend. There was another explosion at the rear of the zeppelin, which started to rock back and forth in mid-air; apparently, the mercenaries found a way to detonate the rear section of the ballast system. "I hope that nopony that ain't a pegasus is anywhere near an open door or window..." Nose Nip said to himself. "Or it's gonna be an uncomfortable way down." Lightning Dust and the turncoat mercenary were feverishly flying around the cargo area, trying to stop their friends from falling to their demise. But they knew that they couldn't save everyone for long. However, with the help of the unicorns' telekinesis, they were able to seal the cargo doors just in time. However, this would not prevent the airship was swaying and shaking left and right, or back and forth. The whole experience, combined with the thunderstorm raging outside and the alarms blaring inside, was more disorienting than what most of Sunset Shimmer's friends and family had ever experienced in the past. And it seemed to go on for a half hour, before a rumble and several bumps announced that the Summerstar was plowing through a field, and then through a forest. "Everypony, hold on to something!" Lightning yelled, her voice almost drowned out by the loud noises. "Don't worry! I know a spell..." Golden Sun hollered. "We can get through this! I promise!" "Sunset, look out!" Sunset heard Crimson Blade shout to her. Sunset felt something dark and heavy strike her on the scalp. She blacked out, and all went silent.