Over the Precipice
Over the Precipice
“ROLL CALL!!!” the leader of the camp, Colonel Iron Sanders yelled outside the barracks. The guards began their usual routine by banging on the doors, before bursting into the building, prodding anypony who thought they might just sleep in that day.
The Alicorns scrambled out of the barracks into the line for roll call. The colonel was a little surprised. The line had formed much quicker than usual, and the prisoners seemed to be almost energetic before the workday for once.
“Let’s begin,” he stated. His assistant carried his usual clipboard as they began working down the line. There were so many ponies in the line, it would take a while before he would notice only six were missing.
Just before dawn, the Alicorns inside the barracks had opened a trap door they had constructed over the last week. Pulling the loose floor boards out, they pulled the bottom up, revealing the soft earth beneath.
Constructing a complete tunnel out of the camp wasn’t feasible, and it wouldn't have helped achieve their real goal, anyway. However, it was relatively simple to just dig their way to the back of the barracks along the border wall.
The six ponies slid out in the darkness and split into three groups. The first two remained under the barracks in hiding. The second headed for the watchtowers. The last group sneaked off toward the Colonel’s office.
As roll call continued down the line, the watchtower team of Alicorns further split and headed for their individually assigned tower. At the bottom of each tower, two soldiers stood guard. Each pony prowled around the guards just beyond their vision.
Carrying handheld ‘Silent Storms’, they made quick work of the guards at the bottom, who fell to the ground with matching holes in their heads. The guards had no time to fire a single shot, and nothing but silence echoed through the camp. The Alicorns quickly hid the bodies and waited for the signal.
The last team hid just around the corner from the entrance to the colonel's office, hiding behind a dumpster. All six ponies were in position and waiting for the signal to begin the uprising.
“Bueller, Ferret!” the colonel called out from the list. However no pony shouted “Present!” back to him.
“Bueller!!?” he shouted again, and again it was met with nothing but silence. “Guards! Check the barracks! Make sure he’s not dead or hiding! If he’s not dead, fix that!”
Two guards circled around the line to the barracks leaving only three guarding the colonel. As the two guards entered the barracks the light was off. Darkness was all that was visible to the guards. The light switch appeared to have been disabled.
Looking at his partner, they raised their guns towards the darkness. As they walked, the loud creak of the floorboards echoed against the silence. As the guards walked passed the trap door, the Alicorns below made their move. Opening the door slowly and quietly, they carefully raised their guns until they pointed at the guards' backs.
"BANG!!!"
One of the guards had triggered his weapon as he fell to the floor. The shot rang out of the barracks to the ears of the colonel and the guards outside.
“Guards! Guards! Sound the alarm!” the colonel screamed. But as he shouted to his right and left, the three guards protecting him had fallen to the ground, their bodies riddled with holes.
Alicorns throughout the line had pulled their guns, hidden within the hair of their tails. Those without guns had removed their disabled anti-magic caps, their horns ready for the fight.
The colonel was completed surrounded by Alicorns with two dozen guns and horns pointed at his head. “Now, N-Now…let’s talk about this! Y-You don’t need to k-kill me!”
One Alicorn smiled and said, “What’s the matter, Colonel Sanders?....chicken?”
The colonel had enough time to let a small ‘eep’ escape from his lips, before his entire head exploded from the number of shots fired at once into him.
Up in the watchtowers, the guards watched as the Alicorns started firing at the guards. One sounded the alarm for the camp and began firing into the line, while the other attempted to contact Pegasus HQ for reinforcements.
The red light flared up at Corporal Harmon Pimsey from his terminal. Harmon quickly clicked on the alert, which projected the watchtower guard’s image.
“There’s an uprising in the camp!” the guard screamed across the line. We need reinforcements ASAP!”
Harmon quickly responded, “Reinforcements are on the way!”
“Hurr–!” the guard got out, before the screen suddenly went blank.
Harmon lifted his communicator to call for help but hesitated. Commander Hirkain had not arrived at the office yet. His mind started racing. His body began to shake in turmoil. He had to make a choice.
Slowly, he lowered his hoof back down. The alert was dismissed from his screen. Working quickly, before the commander arrived, he brought up the system logs. Every last log entry that a call had ever come in would need to be erased.
He closed the log window just as the commander stepped into the office.
“Morning, corporal. Anything to report?” he asked his assistant, who appeared to be very jumpy for the morning.
“I-um-er, I mean no sir! It’s been a fairly quiet morning,” the scared Pegasus finally puttered out.
“I see…well if that changes, let me know,” the commander replied, dismissing the odd, though not uncommon, behavior of his spineless wimp of an assistant.
“Yes Sir!”
In orbit above the Soil Lands colony, the P.B.S. Loyalty continued to track the mysterious invisible object that had been wandering from colony to colony.
“Report!” Captain Brannigan called, sitting in the captain’s chair staring at the view screen. The planet below was visible on the screen, but not the object they were tracking. They had been in orbit for nearly four hours, and the object continued to lie perfectly still and quiet, as though it were not really there.
“We can still pick up the magical aura it’s giving off, however no new–” The SME officer suddenly stopped talking as he read the information coming in to his terminal. He had to reread it twice to believe what he was seeing.
“Sir!!! The energy level around the object has increased by two thousand percent!” he yelled out.
The captain looked carefully into the view screen. A small silvery-white aura had started to grow around the object. While its core remaining transparent, a halo, like a solar eclipse, had started to form around the object.
“Private! What’s it doing?...Private, answer me!!!” he yelled. But the private was too engrossed in what he was seeing to speak. The captain had to get out of his chair and grab the Pegasus. “PRIVATE!!!”
“S-Sir, i-i-it’s the s-same!” the young private puttered out.
“Speak Pegasus, damn it! What’s the same, private!?” the captain barked.
“The Maretropolis Disaster, sir. It’s the same energy readings.”
The captain threw himself back into the captain’s chair. “Pegasus-Alert! Get to your stations! All weapons online! Raise shields! We need to protect those ponies down there!” he spouted orders as quick as he could. Within moments, reports from all stations were coming online ready to go.
“Target the center of the aura and FIRE!” he screamed.
Out of the front of the ship, two M.E.W. missiles fired out towards the object. They had made it to within one thousand feet of the object before impacting on the aura alone.
“Sir! The object is absorbing all the magical energy from the missiles! No damage, but part of the object is visible!”
“On-screen!” the captain ordered.
The main monitor zoomed in on the missile impact point. The metal of a ship appeared to have been exposed. Letters could just be made out along the hull: “WINDIGOS”
For the first time in the captain's thirty-five year career, sweat instantly appeared in large beads across his brow. His skin paled beneath is fur as his heart sank into his stomach.
“GET US THE HELL OUT OF HERE, NOW!!!!!” ALL ENGINES FULL REVERSE!!! I WANT EVERY LAST SCRAP OF ENERGY AND MAGIC FOCUSED ON THE SHIELDS!!!!”
Pegasi all over the ship began scrambling to back the ship away from the object.
“Captain!!! There’s a secondary buildup of energy on the side of the object facing us! It looks like it’s ready to fire!” the SME officer called out.
Captain Tiberius Brannigan collapsed onto his chair. He stared into the view screen, resigned to his fate. He watched the beam of bright silver light shoot forth from the object heading straight for the ship. He closed his eyes as the beam impacted on the ship.
The massive wave of energy cut into the ship's shields like a hot knife through butter. It penetrated the ship directly through the bridge, piercing straight through and out the back.
All that was left behind was what looked like the remains of a hollowed out log. Within seconds, the sides of the ship broke apart, before what remained of the engines exploded. The explosion blasted parts of the ship far out across the skies of the planet.
The object continued to build up its energy until it reached capacity. The massive beam struck the planet directly above the colony on the surface of the planet. Not a single structure remained standing.
The guard in Watchtower 1 used his communicator to call HQ for help. As he attempted to reach them, Watchtower 2's guard tried to put a stop to the riot below. He starting picking off Alicorns in the crowd as fast as he could. He had dropped at least a dozen before something caught his eye.
An Alicorn was rapidly climbing the ladder of Watchtower 1. He quickly shifted his position to aim at the climbing prisoner. He was already nearing the top of the tower. The guard carefully aimed his sniper rifle. As the Alicorn climbed into the cross-hairs on his scope, he squeezed the trigger.
The Alicorn was struck in the shoulder, causing him to slip a rung down the ladder. He attempted to maintain his grip, until a second shot pierced his back. His grip released and he plummeted through the air, smashing into the ground below.
The guard smiled as he made to return his aim back to the Alicorns on the ground. As he turned, his gun was grabbed from behind and pulled into his neck. The guard struggled against his assailant, trying to punch him, but he started to grow woozy.
The barrel of the rifle eventually 0crushed the guard’s windpipe as they struggled. Within moments, the guard slipped from consciousness and fell limp against the Alicorn's grip.
Quickly raising the guard’s rifle, the prisoner took aim at the guard in Watchtower 1. The image in his scope showed the guard attempting to call for help.
He focused his eye through the scope on the gun, centering on his target. The days he had spent with his father at a gun range as a colt was nothing like this. Fear coursed through his veins pulsating in his hooves. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Opening his eyes and focusing, he exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger.
“–need reinforcements ASAP!” The guard called into the communicator. “Please hurr–”
The guard looked down at his stomach. A hole, the size of a bit coin, had appeared. He hadn’t felt any pain. His eyes grew blurry in a daze. He stumbled back against the rail, tripping. He closed his eyes as he felt the wind wrap around him.
The Alicorn's heart banged against his chest, attempting to escape. He shook it off as best he could and began to take aim at the Pegasus guards on the ground.
Just outside the Colonel’s office, the two Alicorns watched as the guards by the door abandoned their posts to join in the fight. They carefully crept inside and closed the door. The colonel’s office carried the primary communication’s equipment for the entire camp.
“We need to get the message out to the rebels,” the taller of the two Alicorns said. “Start recording the message, while I set the transmission frequencies.”
“The Pegasi’s prize horse is fleeing the stable.” the shorter one spoke into the microphone. “I repeat. The Pegasi’s prize horse is fleeing the stable.”
The message was saved in the computer and uploaded. As the Alicorns uploaded and sent the message, the bathroom door slowly slid open as the guard hidden behind it stalked his prey. The knife in his belt glistened from the reflection of the light of the room, which went completely unnoticed by the pair of Alicorns as they focused on the equipment.
“The message is sending on a loop. With any luck, they’ll be able to get help to us before–”
The shorter Alicorn clenched his eyes as his face was splattered with something. Wiping some of it away from his face, he could see a blade jutting out the front of his partner’s neck.
“Son of a–” he screamed, jumping away from his partner’s killer. A sick sucking sound was heard as the knife was ripped back out, sending the Alicorn’s body collapsing to the floor.
They stared into one others' eyes as they sized one another up. The Pegasus was smiling, while the Alicorn scowled in return.
The wall where the Pegasus had been standing moments before blasted apart from the Alicorn's magic. He lowered his horn again, preparing for another volley. The soldier lunged at the prisoner, his wings angled to increase the force of the blow. The Alicorn was knocked off his hooves smashing into another wall.
As the pair rolled on the floor, struggling for control, the soldier’s blade was mere inches away from both of their chests. The knife’s point slowly turned toward the Alicorn. With a final thrust of his wings, the Pegasus plunged the blade into the Alicorns chest. Within moments, the Alicorn ceased to move.
Getting up off the floor, the guard wiped his blood soaked mouth and spat at the Alicorn. He walked back to the communications terminal and shut off their message for help, followed by replacing it with an all-hands alert to the Pegasus HQ. Help would indeed come; but not for the Alicorns.
“No!” Sunbeam whispered in shock. Her pupils had instantly shrunk to as small as the heads of pins. She turned white from bone to fur. “It’s not possible! It just can’t be! No!” Her eyes welled with tears. She couldn’t move or think, but continued to just stare through the words displayed on her screenpad:
“Contact lost with the Soil Lands Colony. Last transmission indicates energy signature matching the weapon used during the Maretropolis Disaster.”
Thousands of voices of her friends and family now dead echoed in screams through her mind. Sun’s agony was released in a wail that echoed out across the office. Her screenpads fractured as her desk was suddenly launched across the room in fury. Sun fell to her knees sobbing and shaking.
“What in the ruddy hell is going on in here?” Chancellor Puttinghoof asked, rushing into the room. He stumbled upon the Earth pony, kneeling of the floor, sobbing with the office destroyed around her.
“S-Sir…” Sun sniffed, wiping some of the tears from her eyes. “I’m afraid I have to report some bad news…”
The terminal in front of Corporal Pimsey lit up like a pinball game. Red lights and warnings flashed back and forth as more and more reports from the camp came in. This was beyond his ability to stop now. This was as far as he could go.
“Sir! There’s been an uprising at Camp 023!!!” he screamed across the office.
“WHAT!?” Commander Hirkain screamed, rushing over to the corporal’s terminal. “Bucking cockroaches! I’ve waited too long to squish this infestation! Get on the wire. Alert all nearby patrols and ships to get to the camp yesterday! Tell them it’s open season on the enemy. No prisoners, no survivors!”
Pimsey could only look back and the commander dumbfounded. How could he possibly send such orders?
“What are you waiting for Pansy!?” the commander asked the frozen pony. “Send it! That’s an order!!!”
Pimsey continued to hesitate. If he sent that message, and the uprising failed, every last Alicorn in the camp would be massacred.
Commander Hirkain leaned in so close that Pimsey could feel the heat of the commander’s breath against his face. “PRIVATE!!! I’M NOT GOING TO ASK YOU AGAIN!!!!!
Apparently his promotion had been short-lived. Deep within the recesses of Harmon Pimsey’s mind, the tiniest voice cried out, “Forgive me.”
“The barracks should be behind this building, on the other side of the fence line,” a broad, muscular Alicorn whispered to his team.
Bow Archer was considered to be the weapons expert of the group. Despite his occupation of being a tailor, his hobby was archery, and he was exceptionally skilled at it. Turned down from law enforcement for being an Alicorn, he settled as a tailor. His sharp eye proved useful for threading needles and the like, of which, he loathed every minute.
Now more in his element, he led the Alicorn team charging toward the mares and fillies barracks. Peeking around the corner quickly, only one guard remained by the gate in the fence. The rest had gone to assist against the uprising.
“I can only see one guard, but there may be more, hidden. The moment I take out the guard, charge the fence. Ratchet, Volley, I want you two to take out the hinges on the gate so we can plow right through it. Understood?”
The pair nodded in agreement and got into position. The rest of the Alicorns were waiting right behind. Archer crept just into range. He felt the pistol in his hand. It was very different from a bow, but his eye was as sharp as ever. His target lined up, the silent storm handgun dropped the guard as quietly as a marble striking a pillow.
The Alicorns rushed around the corner of the building and aimed toward the gate. Within ten feet of it, the hinges of it suddenly busted apart from exploding magic. Smoke appeared rising from Ratchet and Volley’s horns as they charged with the other Alicorns, plowing through the gate with ease.
They searched around the camp, but the grounds were entirely empty; no guards, no prisoners. There was an eerie silence that whistled in the air. Volley Serve, whose wife and daughter were captured with him, had a sudden realization. “What if…?” Panicked, he ran ahead of the group, looking from building to building for the barracks.
“VOLLEY WAIT!!!” Archer screamed, trying to get to the frantic Alicorn.
The whole team tried to keep up, but Volley had fled far ahead of them. He found an old, and battered building that looked large enough to house the mares and fillies. He hurriedly pushed open the door, peering into the darkness.
“Veira?” he called out, echoing inside.
“VOLLEY, RUN!!!! a soft mare’s voice shouted out.
Before he could adjust his eyes, Volley felt something dripping down his head. He wiped his forehead with his hoof. It was blood. He had just enough time to realize he was dead before he collapsed to the floor.
“NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” the mare’s voice screamed out.
The rest of the team had caught up, but kept their distance from their fallen comrade at the entrance. From inside the barracks, one of the Pegasi officers called out.
“If you value the lives of your wives and fillies,” he started, “I suggest you cast off your weapons and lie on the ground, with your horns pointed down.
The Alicorns looked at one another, unsure what to do. Finding no possible alternative, they chucked their guns away from them, and lowered themselves to the ground.
The soldiers inside the barracks cautiously approached the prisoners, their guns at the ready. With their horns lowered, the prisoners could not see the soldiers, as they filed out of the building. There were at least fifteen guards. The last few remained behind to guard the women and children. As the soldier who spoke out approached the closest Alicorn, he carefully aimed his pistol at his head. This pistol was not a silent storm. The shot echoed loudly against the buildings and across the open air, causing many ponies to flinch in terror.
“Two of you are now dead!” the soldier announced. “If you value your lives and the lives of your families, I suggest you lie deadly still!”
Inside the barracks, Veira was convulsing with terror and anger. Her magic-prevention cap was still in place, leaving her with nothing to fight against the guards but her bare hooves.
And that is what she used.
Her eyes opened wide in anger, the whites of them turning blood red. She honed in on the nearest guard, creeping in a pouncing position. Many around her were shielding their children and keeping as far away as possible.
Some saw her approach and followed her lead. Veira watch the guard’s eyes shift their gaze away from her position. He had not seen her approach. She readied her stance, before pouncing on the guard. She grabbed his wings and snapped them, shattering the bones.
A Pegasus wings were a powerful tool, but were also incredibly sensitive to pain. The guard fell to the floor screaming in agony. Several other mares pounced on the remaining guards, disabling them as well.
Outside the barracks, the soldiers reacted to the shout, turning to face its source. Before they could correct their mistake, half of them had been shot by the rebel’s horns. The rest were immediately tackled in a struggle for control. Within moments, the guards were completely disabled, and the mares and fillies were free.
It took a few seconds to sink in, before the shouts and cries of joy rang out as families were happily reunited.
“Daddy!…DADDY!!!!!!” many of the children screamed running to their fathers. It took nearly five minutes for Archer to regain control of the scene; partially because he himself spent some time hugging his family tight enough to keep them from breathing.
“Everyone! EVERYONE! We need to get to the ship! Follow me!”
A loud cheer rang out as the men snapped to the front of the line ready to join the main fight for freedom, now armed with the reunion of their families. Many of the women, with their horn caps removed, also joined the group as rebel fighters.
The factory was quiet. All of the machines were currently off. Bake followed his team leader, a broad muscular Alicorn by the name of Hammer Hoof, through factory towards the shipyards.
They had only encountered a few guards and saw two possibilities; either they picked a great day, with fewer guards on duty, or they were waiting for us to fall into their trap. Hammer’s instincts told him to expect the trap.
As they reached the rear of the factory, he raised hoof, telling everypony to stay still.
“We should have hit some guards already,” he whispered. “I’d bet money they’re behind this door.” He pointed to the rear exit from the factory, where all the completed components were brought from the factory floor.
“Bake, take a team of ten around the long way,” he pointed to the group surrounding Bake. I’ll give you twenty minutes. Wait until you hear the signal, then burst in.”
Bake nodded, “What’s the signal?”
“I’ll make a racket that can be heard three towns over,” he explained. “Good enough?”
“Right,” Bake replied. They divided up and Bake led them around to the other side. It would take a lot more time this way. He hoped they could reach the second entrance in time.
To reach the other side, Bake needed to take his team back outside the front of the factory and circle around it to the back. They had never been back there and did not know what to expect.
“Keep an eye out,” Bake said to his team. “They could be watching this way to the factory as well.”
As they followed the border of the factory around, the path narrowed between the factory wall and the border wall to the outside of the camp. After a few minutes of trotting, they found their path completely blocked by a third brick wall. This one connected the two sides, resulting in a dead end.
“We need to get across this if we’re going to reach the other side in time,” Bake whispered. “I need a volunteer to be the first to go over and see what’s on the other side.”
Almost every pony was hesitant to be the first over the wall. Only one stepped forward; an Alicorn you would hardly expect. He was only as tall as a regular pony and twice as scrawny. But he stepped up and puffed out his chest as he whispered his reply.
“I will go. I have no family and am not very strong. At lease this way I can do something useful.”
Sugar Baker looked down at the scrawny pony. He nodded curtly. “Go,” he whispered. “And good luck!”
Reaching his hooves out, Bake lifted the Alicorn up and pushed him high enough to climb over the top. When reached the wall he sat up and looked around.
“No guards in sight this way!” he cried, excited at not becoming cannon fodder.
He leaned down to help the next Alicorn up over the wall. It took almost ten minutes to get everypony over the wall, leaving precious little time to get to the second entrance. The galloped as fast as they could. Bake was out in front, not seeing any additional obstructions until…
“Uhmf!”
He had collided with an invisible barrier. Panicked, he quickly waved to the volunteer again and lifted him up, but his head smushed into an invisible ceiling. A force field had been set up. Bake tried to run back the other way, only to be met with yet another force field. They were trapped. They would not be able to get to their target in time for the ambush. Bake slammed his hooves against the barrier in anger.
Hammer Hoof’s team was doomed.
“It’s about time,” Hammer whispered, nodding to his remaining teammates.
The team nodded together and raised their weapons. Their horns began to glow as an aura spread out from the tips, covering their ears.
Hammer plowed into the doors, bursting them open. His horn was already glowing and increasing in intensity. He released a blasting sound that shattered the windows as it rang out. The enemy within were forced to cover their ears as the intense screech rang out.
With the signal sent out and the enemies’ hooves busy covering their ears, the Alicorns charged into the room firing. Within seconds, almost twenty of the guards had been taken out.
But the remaining forty were able to recover from the screech. They began firing their weapons in a massive spread. The remaining rebel prisoners alive were dropping rapidly.
“Where in the buck is Bake!?” one of them shouted, ducking behind a large piece of equipment. “We’re getting slaughtered!”
Hammer was hidden behind a large control panel. He had just enough knowledge to figure out what it was for.
“I need that engineer!” he shouted out. “Is he still alive?”
Firing his gun wildly at the guards, Mac Firebird shouted out, “I AIN’T DEAD YET!”
“Well then get over here! I need you to work this confound it machine!”
Mac dodged from one place of cover to the next, several shots missing him by the skin under his fur.
“What in pony hell are you on about?” Mac screamed, as he dove at Hammer Hoof’s feet.
“I think this thing controls the crane above their heads,” he explained. “If we can lift up a piece of equipment, we can use it like a broom sweep on the guards!”
Mac looked at the crane and the console. There knobs switches and buttons everywhere, with no manual in sight.
“Well?” Hammer yelled, as he aimed his gun carefully and took out another soldier. “Can you do it?”
“Give me a minute would ya?” Mac yelled back. “This isn’t like a riding a bike. I need to think!”
“We don’t have a minute!”
Mac started playing with the knobs. The crane started to move left and right.
“That’s that there…” Mac though aloud.
“Hurry up!” Hammer screamed.
“Almost–”
“DROP YOUR GUNS!” a Pegasus soldier screamed into their ears. His gun and several others were mere inches from the back of the Alicorns’ heads.
Hammer Hoof carefully lowered his gun to the floor, swearing under his breath. As he looked to his left, he could see all of his teammates had been captured as well. The Pegasus soldiers had pulled the same trap as them, and succeeded.
The gunfire had ceased. The battle was lost.
“This ends now!” the same soldier called out, pushing the barrel of his gun directly into the back of Hammer’s skull. “Everyone on the count of three! One. Two. Thr–”
Glass shattered and gunshots fired out left and right. Chaos and pandemonium had broken out. However it was not the Alicorns that were the ones being shot. The guards were being riddled with holes and mowed down by a barrage of bullets from the sky.
The rebel fighters from the outside had dropped through the ceiling by hover cars. Their message had gotten through.
“Get to the ship!” one of the rebels screamed.
At once the tables had turned and the guards were on the run. Alicorns and rebel fighters broke through their lines and made a bee line for the ship. Within moments, Sugar Baker and his team, freed by the rebels, reunited with the group at the entrance to the ship.
“Everyone onboard!” Hammer screamed from the entrance.
“Sorry we’re a little late,” Bake said, rushing up to him. “Got hung up a bit. You and your men alright?”
“Hammer was about to tear into him, before a certain bearded Unicorn suddenly grabbed Bake by the shoulders.
“Didn’t start the revolution without me did you?” Star Swirl yelled out.
Bake turned to see his best friend in the flesh. “Star Swirl!” he shouted lifting the pony right off the ground and squeezing the life out of him with his hooves. “I got your message. There are no words to thank you, my friend.” Star’s eyes, bulging out of their sockets, was the only response he could return. “Are Ruby and the girls still safe?”
“Save the reunion for when we’re not dead!” Hammer shouted. Now come on already! We need to get this beast in the air before backup arrives!”
“They’re well hidden and safe”, Star quickly added before the two friends snapped back into the game. Alicorns and rebel fighters quickly spread throughout the ship. Not knowing which way to go, they fanned out looking for signs where they needed to go.
Mac Firebird found his way to Engineering, along with several more tech-oriented ponies. Others headed for armories and defense stations spread out over the ship. Those with no background knowledge headed for Digi-port terminals, to start bringing the ponies still on the ground, onboard.
Sugar Baker, Star Swirl, and Hammer Hoof made for the bridge of the ship. They eventually found it and began trying to turn every switch, knob, button, and blinking light they could find, to get the ship moving.
“Who’s the pilot?” Bake asked, noticing the empty pilot’s chair.
“You’re looking at him!” Star smirked as he took his seat.
“Um, Star…you’re a salespony, not a pilot!” Bake stated, sincerely doubting his friend’s ability.
“I told you. My company expanded. I picked up a few tricks while I was there!” Star replied matter-of-factly, as though he had just shown Bake a pilot’s license, which he did not.
Bake was starting to like this plan less and less by the minute. Everypony scrambled, but communication still had not been established.
Hammer took his seat in the captain’s chair. Switching on the ship’s intercom, he spoke out across the ship.
Attention ponies. We need to get this ship in the air as quickly as possible. Find
your assigned stations as quickly as you can. We need to get the engines and
shields working ASAP! And we’ll probably need weapons not that long after! All
stations report back when you are ready to go.
Bake had taken his seat at the sensors terminal. He had no experience with this at all. He had been allowed a bridge position because of his influence in getting the plan up and running, but he would need to learn a whole lot, very fast, to read the information on his screen.
He was not alone in this. Many of the positions were being filled by amateurs. They would be lucky not to shoot themselves out of the sky. As he looked at the lights and graphs blinking, beeping, and flashing, something stood out to him.
“Um…sir?” he questioningly called out to the now captain of the ship.
“What is it Bake?” he responded concentrating on star charts displayed on the main view screen.
“I think there’s a ship moving towards us,” he answered hesitantly. “I’m not quite sure, but I think it’s a Pegasus ship.”
His terminal was displaying the ship’s relative position within the city and all traffic around it. Hover-cars showed up in little gray specs. A larger blue dot with wings was rapidly getting closer to the red dot, which Bake took to mean this ship.
“Damn it!” Hammer hollered, slamming his hoof damn. “What’s their ETA?”
That information wasn’t displayed. Bake tried pressing the blue dot with his hoof. Instantly a bubble popped up with a bunch of information. It showed things like, the name of the approaching ship, its defenses, its closing distance, and its Time to Intercept’.
“Looks like six minutes!” He read out. “This says it’s a transport ship. So its defenses and weapons should be minimal.”
“With our shields down, even a transport ship could install a new sun roof in this ship!” Hammer grunted. Smashing his hoof into the intercom button, he yelled out, “SHEILD STATUS!”
After a moment of static, somepony finally answered. “Not for another hour, sir! These things need an initial charging for about an hour after the engines are started.”
“You’ve got five minutes!” Hammer yelled back.
“But sir, that’s impos–”
Hammer cut off the line and switched the channel to Engineering. “ENGINE STATUS!”
“Engines are started and we should be ready to move in about eight minutes!”
Hammer was not having a good day. “Mac, there’s going to be a hole in the ground where this ship used to be in less than five minutes. Get us moving!” Hammer cut the line again before Mac could respond.
Switching the channel back to the all-hooves, he spoke again to the crew.
Attention. The engines are online and power should be coming on for all systems.
Digi-port pads should be ready. Get our ponies up here now! Everypony manning
weapons, there’s a ship that’s going to be here in a few minutes. We won’t even
have shields up to protect us. It’s up to you to blast that enemy ship before they
rip us apart! Good luck everypony. We’re going to need it!
Closing the channel, Hammer sank into his chair. Under his breath, he muttered, “Perhaps today is a good day to die.”
Displayed on the view screen, the Pegasus ship could be seen making its way straight toward its target: them. Captain Hammer Hoof stared at the small dot as it gradually grew into a full-fledged Pegasus ship.
Shaped for both aerodynamic and spatial movement, the massive sight of a menacing wolf’s head bared down upon them. Its gaping mouth was a gauntlet of weaponry. The sensors on both sides twitched back and forth, listening to its prey. Its red eyes glowed with excitement, as it grew ever closer, To make the terrifying imagery complete, its engines created a tail of flame that bent and twisted with the moves of the ship.
The captain could do nothing but watch this flaming wolf’s head, preparing to devour its prey.
On the first pass, a massive wave of bullets fired in a line tearing across the ship. With no shields and no engines, the stationary and defenseless ship became riddled with bullet holes across its hull.
Bake stared at the ceiling as they heard the bullets ricocheting just above their heads.
“FIRE! FIRE!!!!!” the captain screamed into the intercom. Across the ship, weapon stations were coming online and Alicorns were firing off in every direction; many of which where nowhere near the enemy ship.
“USE THE DAMN TARGETING SYSTEMS!!!!!” he bellowed. “CONCENTRATE!!!”
The Pegasus ship veered around for another pass. This time the bullets were followed with an MEM missile. The pupils on the captain’s eyes narrowed as it stuck the ship.
The ship jolted from the blast sending many ponies flying. Systems across the ship were overloading, and fires started breaking out it key areas, including Engineering. The ponies grabbed extinguishers and quickly put out the fires. The flames were instantly sucked into the extinguishers removing the heat and oxygen to for it to burn.
Those who managed to hold their hoofing, attempted to use the targeting systems and fired back at the ship. The bullets simply bounced off of the other ships shields. They had done zero damage to the Pegasus battleship.
“DAMAGE REPORT!!!” the yelled out, returning to the chair he’d been launched from moments before. He hadn't even noticed the large gash across his face. He wiped the blood away as though it were nothing more than sweat.
One of the Alicorns from Engineering was the first to respond. “Sir, we were lucky!” The damage was to the secondary systems, which are now inoperative. Primaries are still online however.”
“That doesn’t sound lucky to me!” the captain rebutted. “What about getting this ship off the ground, how long?”
“We only need two minutes!” the pony replied.
“WE WON’T BE HERE IN TWO MINUTES!!!!!” the captain screamed back.
The Pegasus ship had veered around once again. It was getting ready to finish job, once and for all.
Behind the captain's chair, a large blue light suddenly started to dance around the bridge. Turning around to see the source, both the Captain Hammer Hoof and Sugar Baker stared in the direction of Star Swirl, who had been completely enveloped by the aura being generated from his horn.
As the aura swelled around him, only a single thought entered into Star’s mind: “Bowl”.
Just outside the ship, standing between them and the enemy, a massive blue bowl stood as guardian to the ship. As the Pegasus released another massive wave of bullets upon them, the bowl instantly maneuvered to intercept. The bullets flew straight into the bowl, their trajectories being scooped around, bending back along its walls, until they exited, aimed directly back at the very ship that had fired them. The bullets struck the shields in a massive wave that caused the shield strength to waver.
The Pegasus ship launched another MEM missile; this time, headed straight for the bridge. The bowl quickly moved to intercept and even altered its shape to once again reflect the weapon back to its original owner.
The MEM missile exploded on impact with the shields just over the weapons. The shields wavered again, allowing some of the explosion to penetrate the shields, directly into the wolf’s mouth. It exploded along with all of the ordinance within the enemy’s weapon systems. Secondary explosions started breaking out across the ship, heading straight towards its engines. At the moment the flames reached the wolf’s tail, a massive explosion blasted the ship completely out of the sky.
“WHAT IN PONY HELL WAS THAT!!!!????” Bake shouted at his friend, as Star's aura faded and he collapsed to the floor from exhaustion. Bake rushed over to help him.
“I…I don’t…know,” Star panted. “I just thought, ‘bowl’, and the rest kind of came together.
“Damn Star,” Bake said to him, “You’ve always wondered why you had a magic cutie mark. I guess we know now! What do you call that spell?”
Star sat back up as he gradually recovered. “My Pony-Latin is a bit rusty, but since it was essentially a ‘changing bowl’, I guess you’d call it an Amniomorphic spell.”
“Brilliant!” Bake replied smiling. “I’d be sure that one gets in the books, if we ever get to write any!” They both began laughing together.
“LADIES!” Captain Hammer Hoof yelled out to the pair of them, “Save the celebrations for when where not sitting still in the middle of a Pegasus prison camp!”
The captain switched on the intercom for Engineering again. “Engineering give me a report, and it better be ‘We’re ready to go!’” he commanded.
“Sir, YES!, we’re ready!” came the response.
“Finally,” the captain muttered, “Digi-Port teams, have we got everypony?”
“All Alicorns and rebels are aboard!”
“Star, I hope you can you still fly this thing!” the captain called out to him.
“Yes. I’m fine now,” Star replied taking his seat at the helm.
“Get us out of here!”
The ship shook heavily as it lifted off the ground. As it hovered over the remains of the camp, debris from areas of the ship struck started to fall to the ground. Without the shields, they couldn’t even break orbit for another hour, without risking being torn apart in the vacuum of space.
“Where to, Captain?” Star asked, navigating the ship as it started to ascend into the sky.
“We need a place to hide until the shields come up. I’d normally say hide in the clouds, but that’s exactly the one place Pegasi know best…I’ve got an idea. Head for Unity Park.”
“Sir?” Star replied, quizzically.
“They’re going to be looking for us in the sky. A massive ship in the sky is fairly easy to spot. But a stationary object in a park…their sensors will fool what their eyes could have easily seen!”
“I-um…okay sir,” Star said, as he set course for the park.
Entering the park, they settled over a field just big enough for the ship to hover between the trees. The trees weren’t even close to hiding the ship. Any idiot for miles would be able to see it with their eyes; but not their sensors. On the ground, they were nothing more than a large hill in the middle of the park.
“Now we play the waiting game and see if this gambit pays off,” said the captain.
Harmon Pimsey watched the battle unfold before his eyes. He thought for sure the rebel-captured ship would have been destroyed, yet it was the Pegasus armed battleship that was in fact destroyed. He shuddered to think of how he was going to report this.
“Well, private…” Commander Hirkain grunted, “has the ship been destroyed?”
“Um…well…you see, sir…” Harmon puttered.
“Spit it out already!” the commander screamed.
“The Alicorns destroyed the P.B.S. Shadow. We don’t know the current whereabouts of the rebel's ship.”
“WHAT!!!!!!????” he shouted. His voice carried through the walls echoing across the building. “Explain to me, if you would please, Private, how in the buck did a bunch of rebel prisoners not only manage to steal a transport ship, but destroy a fully armed battleship with NO SHIELDS!?”
Harmon could not think of a good way to respond. He in fact did see the mysterious bowl that reflected every shot, destroying the ship, but he could hardly say that. Instead he attempted to fabricate a story on the fly.
“Well…you see… I-um I…I saw a fluctuation in the Shadows shields, just before it was struck by a wave of bullets from the prisoners’ ship. They must have slipped through and struck a vital system, which caused a cascade throughout the ship. It was a rather lucky shot actually.”
Harmon’s eyes had been bouncing in every which direction as he spoke, unable to look the Commander Hirkain in the eye.
The commander was not convinced, however. “That was not a lucky shot, Private. That was a pony damned miracle! And I don’t believe in miracles. It would seem we’ve got a saboteur in our ranks, Private. I want an investigation completed YESTERDAY!!!”
“Yes sir!” Pimsey replied, saluting.
“AND FIND THAT BUCKING SHIP!!!!!”
“We’ve arrived at the planet, Chancellor,” Captain Barnegie announced as the E.P.S. Venture settled into high orbit.
“Well Captain...” Chancellor Puttinghoof instantly replied back, on the edge of his chair, “what is the status of the colony?”
“…No pony is alive on the planet sir. The colony is gone.”
It was the chancellor’s turn to become enraged, as screamed and swore. It took nearly ten minutes for him to calm himself down and speak again.
“Tell me Captain, was the colony destroyed by the same phenomena that destroyed Maretropolis?” Again the chancellor waited on baited breath.
“…Sensors are picking up the same overwhelming magical signature,” the captain responded, his throat clogged as he tried to speak. I-It is identical to the first disaster, Chancellor.”
Onboard the Venture, all of the officers on the bridge were conducting every conceivable test known to ponykind. It was the youngest of the group who noticed it first.
“Sir, I think I’ve got something,” the young pony said.
“Try to be a little more specific, Crewpony,” the captain’s initial response. He was more focused on the particle readings from the more senior officers.
“I found some debris directly above the colony,” the crewpony restated.
This finally caught the captain’s full attention. Quickly calling back to the Chanceller, the captain said, "Just a moment, Chancellor, we may have some additional information." He closed the channel.
Turning to the crewpony, he asked “What debris? What ship does it belong to?”
The Earth pony scrambled to get the computer to identify something specific amongst the debris. Finally, it honed in on a cannon, floating amongst the wreckage.
“I think it’s Pegasus sir,” he called out. “I think it’s was one of their battleships.”
Captain Barnegie realized the horror of what that could mean. “Be absolutely sure, crewpony. Is it a Pegasus battleship, or possibly one off the Pegasus transports that were converted for Earth pony use?”
The more weapons he found, the less the crewpony could say that it was a transport. Finally his computer matched a piece of debris with the database of known Pegasus ships.
“Sir, this was the P.B.S. Loyalty sir. This was no transport ship.”
The captain started to sweat. Surely it was a coincidence that a Pegasus Battleship was destroyed hovering right over the colony and violating its air space. However, his second-in-command would not allow such notions to live long.
“Captain, the debris has the same magical energy pattern as the weapon. It would appear, they were successful in destroying the colony, before the weapon overloaded and destroyed them as well.”
That was the final piece of evidence. The captain was left with no alternative explanation. Sitting back in the captain’s chair, he contacted the chancellor again.
“What have you learned?” the chancellor asked, his frantic thoughts running in every direction through his mind.
“Chancellor…It…It was the Pegasi,” Captain Barnegie spoke delicately. “We found debris of a Pegasus battleship that has the same signature as the weapon. It looks like something went wrong with their ship and was destroyed, along with the colony.”
Chancellor Puttinghoof’s mind finally snapped. The blood rose up through his body, up into his eyes turning red enough, one might have expected them to burst into flames. What little laughter the chancellor had left, was now gone forever.
“Captain,” he started, trying to speak with clarity and control, “I want you to get back here as fast as you can. Spread the word to every ship in the fleet to return to this planet. We are going to evacuate every last living Earth pony off this dead rock. Tell everypony that if they encounter any Pegasus ship, of any kind, they are to destroy it on sight. As of this moment, WE ARE AT WAR!!!!!”
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Sh!t just got real!
Any feedback on the story so far? Let me know your opinions/criticisms/comments on the general direction of the story.
Who is behind the 'Windigos' attack upon Earth, and apparently Pegasopolis and Unicornia I wonder?
Aside from the Q of course. They might have set these events in motion(or not) and cause the unification of the Tribes and Equestria.
Another thing that am I wondering about is whether or not Col. Sanders is chicken or not.
1968189
anybody get the movie reference for Colonel Sanders chicken?
hint: prepare ship for ludicrous speed!!!
1969463Sorry never seen Space Balls.
I highly suggest you watch it!
1969571I'll borrow my father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate's copy of the movie, if I can track down.
The colonel was completed surrounded by Alicorns
the guard screamed across the line. We need reinforcements ASAP!”
The barrel of the rifle eventually 0crushed the
Its red eyes glowed with excitement, as it grew ever closer, To make the terrifying imagery
“Sir, we were lucky!” The damage was
“Sir, YES!, we’re ready!”
1. Completely.
2. Forgot your opening quotation mark.
3. Crushed.
4. Meant to be a fullstop.
5. Extra quotation mark.
6. Sir, yes sir! We're ready!