North of
Suburbs outside Washington DC.
The smell of fresh and hot pizza brought Margot out of her nap. She looked around then followed her nose. Spike had a smile and a slice as well as the other team members. Emily gave Margot a slice.
“Is it DiGiorno?” Margot said.
Emily shook her head. “Nope, actually it’s made by Mackie. He said it was a recipe he got from the internet.”
Mackie walked by with a slice in his hoof. “The secret is to put seasoning in the flour a few hours before you make it rise.”
Skybreeze smiled. “Well, Mackie, this is some tasty pizza.”
Margot looked around for Spike. He was talking to Apple Bloom.
Rarity was gazing out the window while her slice cooled.
Margot walked up to Rarity. “Pizza gets cold almost instantaneously.”
Rarity looked back with a face filled with worry. “It’s all too much. I wish I was back home.”
“Once we rescue Twilight Sparkle, we will go home.”
“How?” Rarity said and peered at Margot.
“I figure that the Messenger of Oonte will send us back. He sent us here,” Margot said then shrugged. She looked out over the grass and trees being covered in orange light from the setting sun. Rarity took a bite of her pizza and grimaced.
Margot focused and cast a warming spell on the pizza.
Rarity smiled. “Thank you.”
Margot ate her pizza in silence with Rarity until Emily came by.
“In a few minutes we’re going to the comms center,” Emily said and cantered off.
Margot wondered where that was. Moments later, the group was standing around in the area between the kitchen and the living room.
Mackie’s horn glowed blue and a doorway appeared in the floor.
Skybreeze peered at the doorway. “Interesting.”
Mackie nodded and used his telekinesis to open the door. Metal stairs led down to some sort of room. Tibbs and Emily went first then Skybreeze and Margot.
Downstairs was a large room with a screen that covered one wall. A control console was in front of the screen. A few steps away were a bunch of red padded seats.
Jerome smiled. “This is a great place for movie night.”
Tibbs sat back. “Yep.”
Mackie sat at the console. “It took me, with some help, several years to get this to work.” The rest of the group sat in their seats. He did some typing and several pony faces and one changeling showed up on the screen.
Margot recognized this as some form of live chat.
“Welcome guys and gals,” Mackie said. The folks on the screens replied then their images shrunk to the left side of the screen as an image of a male griffon with grey brown plumage appeared. His bright green eyes seemed to stare into Margot’s soul.
“Here’s the rogue’s gallery of enemies we have to deal with. This is Hopecrusher. He’s the Gleaner in charge of the United States. There are Gleaners in charge of Canada and Mexico, but I don’t know their names. I doubt Hopecrusher is going to be getting in our way. He’s not the talons on type,” Mackie said.
A greyish-brown pony appeared on the screen. Something about his blunt face and cold green eyes made Margot think of a brutal enemy.
“This is General Trample, he’s in charge of the military. I also doubt he will be dealing with us directly but who knows? He can be hooves on,” Mackie said then showed a black outline.
“This one is Dr. Geist. No one knows what he looks like. He does all sorts of magical and tech research. There are rumors that he is into interrogation and is very good at it. Okay, now let me show you where you want to go,” Mackie said and the screen switched to show a grey-white building in the shape of a pentagon.
“Each level is called a ring and the most secure ring is E5. Your friend is probably there,” Mackie said and switched to a video of the outside of the building. A grey-brown mechanical device with mini guns for arms walked with loud clunks by the camera.
“The Gleaners have robots?” Margot asked.
“Nah, they don’t bother with a lot of tech. That’s a fancy metal golem. There are rumors of one with miniguns and a rocket launcher. Most of their heavy equipment are golems. Tanks-” Mackie was interrupted by Rarity.
“Water tanks are enemies here?” Rarity said with surprise.
Mackie sighed. “No battle tanks.” He then showed a picture of a squat grey brown vehicle on treads that had a machine gun as well as a main gun in front.
Rarity peered at the picture with widened eyes. “How do ponies fight such a machine?”
Mackie nodded. “Very carefully. Also the DA or Defense Authority, the military arm of the Gleaners has golem helicopters.” A picture of a grey-brown helicopter appeared on the screen.
Margot noticed that it had rockets and machine guns.
Mackie hit another button showing a white path leading to the door of the Pentagon. “Mind you the tanks, golems and helicopters are part of even more security. Sniper ponies in camouflage and soldiers also keep an eye on visitors. Since they know a threat is inbound security is extra tight. I really don’t know how you guys are going to get in.”
Far nodded. “We have to. The pentagon must have some weakness because the Gleaners got in.”
Mackie looked up at the screen. “Yeah. When Hopecrusher’s forces headed to the Pentagon, he sent the caspers to go through the walls. The magical wards stopped them. The he sent his other forces to attack. They took horrible losses. The defenders had enough food for several days but it ended up they just had a few hours to live.
Hopecrusher sent caspers underground and they came up through the cracks in the floor’s warding spell. Somehow they were able to squeeze through tiny cracks and reassemble themselves. Then the caspers started draining ponies and other creatures left and right.”
Far looked up at the screen and then at Mackie. “How do you know this?”
Mackie sighed. “A few defenders uploaded what happened before they died. I watched and listened to all of the emails and videos so I could understand what we were dealing with. It’s pretty heart-wrenching stuff. Again, I don’t know how you guys are going to get in.”
A green pony stallion’s face appeared on the screen. “Heston here. I know how we can help your friends get into the Pentagon. We go for the big bird himself. A focused attack on the White House will get the DA’s attention. If we do enough damage, they have to pull units from the Pentagon to protect the White House.”
A female changeling with red hair and faceted green eyes appeared on the right side. “It’s a suicide mission. You will be wasting valuable resources!”
“Seriously, Nina, how long do you think you will live anyway?” Several other voices joined the discussion.
Margot couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Then a crudely drawn picture of a pony showed up on the screen. It looked like something a foal or a child would draw. “Name’s Leethoof. Most of you have worked with me. Right?” There were some mumbles from the other chat members. “Let me rephrase. Did I give you what you want? Did any of you not get what you wanted?” This time, the chat was silent.
“Good, that crap is done. I have all of the security codes for all of the rings. That’s right all of the rings. And before you can have paranoid thoughts about me. Realize that if I was DA, all of you could have been sent to Gitmo by now or worse. I’m not giving these codes away for free. You gotta do something for me. Also, this could be a good opportunity for you. Seriously, do you think that you can fight those golems and tanks with regular guns?” Leethoof said.
Mackie looked at Tibbs. Tibbs nodded.
“Um, Leethoof, what do you want?” Mackie said.
“Mackie, we go way back and I’ve helped you a lot haven’t I?”
“Yeah, Leet.”
“Alright. Here’s the deal. The Gleaners turned the Del Ron neighborhood into a research area for weapons. Something went wrong and they put up a fence around the whole area. I came across some docs that mention some advanced weapons like gauss guns.”
Skybreeze spoke up. “What’s a gauss gun?”
Margot knew what a gauss gun was. She even had specs for building one, but D-Core rules were strict about introducing weapons that were too advanced for the local civilization. “You mean a railgun? A weapon that accelerates a chunk of metal using magnets almost to the speed of light?”
“Yeah, you got it. Something like that would make short work of the small golems and the tanks probably would just take a few more shots. You could also make your own door with a railgun too. No more checkpoints! It’s more than just that. Maybe there are working prototypes lying around to be picked up?” Leethoof said with a bit of excitement.
Tibbs stood up. “So we are to believe that the DA just left important specs and weapons lying around for folks to pick up.”
“The DA left that area in a hurry and fenced in that whole neighborhood. They didn’t even bother to evacuate the few locals that lived there,” Leethoof said.
“Do you know why the DA left the area?” Mackie said.
“No, there are no records on that. It’s like they wanted to bury their failure,” Leethoof said.
“Pass. We will find another way in,” Tibbs said.
“Little lead bullets and gunpowder isn’t going to work this time. You need better weapons,” LeetHoof said.
“Yes but you have no idea if anything is there. We could send ponies to their deaths to check out an empty building. You have to do better than that. At least guarantee that something in that dangerous area is useful. If not we pass,” Tibbs said.
Mackie faced Tibbs. “Um, boss, it’s not your decision.”
Tibbs looked away and then back at Mackie. He whispered. “I don’t want to lose you. I’ve lost so much. Maybe not as much as you but...”
Mackie looked away and back to Tibbs. “Yeah, I know but I have to go.”
Emily trotted up and gave Mackie a hug.
“Listen if you are going in, you need a small group. I bet the DA still monitors the area,” Leethoof said.
“If you wish Mackie, I will go and watch your back,” Tibbs said.
“Yes, I would be honored,” Mackie said and sniffled.
Margot stood up. “I will go.” The SHC started whispering.
“Ah should go,” Apple Bloom said.
“No way. I want to go,” Scootaloo said and then stamped a fore hoof.
Sweetie Belle just looked at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. “I’ll stay here with Rarity.”
Jerome walked up. “How about Rock, Paper and Scissors to decide?”
Skybreeze looked at Jerome. “Really, I fail to see how arts and crafts will decide this.”
Margot just smiled. She wanted to see how Jerome was going to handle this.
Jerome looked down at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. “Well, to play the game--”
Tibbs pointed at Scootaloo. “We’ll take you.”
Scootaloo smiled. “Yesss!”
Apple Bloom frowned. “Why her and not me?”
“She’s a pegasus, she can fly. If things go south at least someone can report back. I can almost guarantee that the walkies won’t work once we get inside,” Tibbs said.
Scootaloo looked down and mumbled.
Tibbs leaned down. “What?”
Scootaloo looked up at Tibbs. “I can’t fly yet.”
Tibbs looked into Scootaloo’s eyes for a moment. “Fine. Who’s the best at this Oonte stuff?”
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged glances.
Sweetie Belle stepped back. “We kinda work together.”
Tibbs looked at Sweetie. “Well, we need just one or none.”
Margot looked at Scootaloo. “We might need some help from Oonte.”
Tibbs shrugged. “Fine. Pick one. We don’t have the time for games.”
Sweetie Belle stepped back. “Scootaloo, you can go. I want to stay with Rarity.”
Rarity looked at Sweetie Belle with concern. “Sweetie, darling. I do appreciate you wanting to stay with me but if you’re needed you should help out.”
Apple Bloom faced Scootaloo. “You go, I’ll do the next time.”
Scootaloo smiled.
Tibbs looked down at Scootaloo. “Celebrate when you’re safe.”
Mackie looked away from the screen. “I’ll tell Leethoof who’s coming.”
Tibbs stepped up. “Make sure you get all of the info you can from this guy.”
“Yeah boss,” Mackie said.
Nina’s image appeared on the screen again. “You’re going into the Del Ron area? I wish you good luck. I sent two scouts in there.”
Mackie gulped. “What happened?”
“The scouts went in two blocks and got spooked. One of them said their walkies turned on by themselves. Nopony was on the other end. There was just this wind like noise. That was enough for them. They were outside the fence in a flash. Also, they didn’t stop shaking until hours later. I’m sorry I don’t have anything more definite for you.”
Mackie shot a glance at Tibbs who just shrugged then he faced the screen. “Um, thanks Nina.”
Nina nodded.
Leethoof’s image appeared on the screen again.
“Okay, I have to talk to Leethoof. Thanks for coming,” Mackie said.
The folks in chat wished Mackie well and left.
Mackie faced the group behind him. “I’ll brief you when I’m done with Leethoof. You can go upstairs to start preparing.”
“I suggest that you schedule your trip so you have the most daylight. The DA disconnected that area from the power grid. I don’t want to think what that place is going to be like at night,” Leethoof said.
Tibbs whispered great.
Emily frowned.
Nga'Devro stepped up. “Nga'Devro suggests bringing lots of batteries for flashlights or light spells.”
Margot had a feeling they would need more than that, but she kept quiet.