The Agent of Chaos leader Snake, also known as the former Lieutenant Captain Aten, was determined to melt into the night as the glowing magenta bubble representing the forces hunting him closed on Fort Alpha, his organization's last stronghold. He had already abdicated authority over all the ponies still there to one of his subordinates, a "shapeshifter" he called Agent X that would lead the defense of the fort. Now, he was galloping on hoof southward, shielded from view of the attackers by the fort itself, toward where the "shapeshifter" and his partner claimed was their hive and their Queen - Queen Chrysalis, as all Equestria would find out.
As a pegasus that had had his wings surgically removed, Snake hated "crawling in the dirt" like the earth ponies did, but knew he had little choice in the matter. If Fort Alpha fell, the Agents of Chaos would die, and he would surely have been executed for treason if captured alive there. He could only hope that the "shapeshifters" could coordinate defense of the position long enough to evacuate what forces were still there - and the valuable prisoners contained within...
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MEANWHILE...
"Sir, I still don't understand how this 'Quesadilla Polka' managed to get his hooves on that huge wheel of hard cheddar, never mind how we missed seeing it before..." Lieutenant Vanguard asks of Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor as the two walk side by side under the magic dome Shining Armor was generating to protect the force from an aerial assault while it set up for the attack on Fort Alpha.
"I have no idea, Lieutenant, but I've heard of the same kind of weirdness being experienced by my sister with Pinkie Pie. I guess in this case we're just supposed to roll with it." Shining Armor answers with something of a shrug, looking up at the top of the giant cheese wheel nearby slowly and carefully being rolled forward by the earth pony "Quesadilla Polka" on top of it.
"Sir, that pun was terrible. Please don't do that again." Lieutenant Vanguard comments with a roll of his eyes.
Shining Armor chuckles and gives something of an apology in response: "Alright, I won't. We need to get serious about the assault anyway."
Lieutenant Vanguard steps away to the right, and Shining Armor looks around to assess the situation he faces. The weak point in Fort Alpha's wall, where it had been previously breached by a buffalo stampede, is protected by an improvised wooden barrier and would be the main target of the assault. Quesadilla Polka would roll the cheese wheel against it as an impromptu battering ram, allowing bucking attacks by the members of Vanguard's squad and Shining's own powerful magic to weaken it further and eventually shatter it, allowing the fort to be stormed.
Of course, Shining Armor expected a counterattack of some kind, although he had no idea what it would be. The rebels couldn't have many left to oppose him, and they might decide to fight inside the fort instead of outside. He regretted that he couldn't deploy "catch squads" to attempt to grab any rebels escaping on wing, realizing he would have to make do with what he had available to him.
Shining had placed himself in the center of the line, between the two squads under his command. To his left, Acting Lieutenant Excelsior was attempting to coordinate a horizontal march of the ex-Hornpoint unicorns, with the far left anchored by Guard Upper Class Flash Sentry and the ex-Lower Class Petronius, who still proved he had some use in coordinating the mostly-civilian squad. To the right was Vanguard and his squad, the Upper Classes 8-Bit and Spearhead airborne while the rest of the squad cautiously followed behind the giant rolling cheese wheel.
In the dim moonlight, Shining could make out the glow of a few fires inside the fort and the outline of a defiantly flying flag - asking for surrender would be pointless since he already knew the rebels would fight to the death to keep what valuable prisoners they had. There would be a fight tonight for certain, but how bloody and long it might be he had no idea...
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As the Just Cause force closed on the walls of the fort, the remaining defenders prepared as best they could. Although initially confused by the giant rolling cheese wheel as well, they believed it in itself could not breach the weak point and that Shining Armor would be too distracted to contribute to the attack with his own powerful unicorn magic. Agent X1, already cloaked, lined up in a middle of pegasi stallions that were similarly cloaking themselves and turned to face his drone comrade X2, the only one besides the prisoner guards that would not be participating in the "Flaming V" counterattack.
Agent X2 was levitating a lit torch with magic, and his solid-colored eyes looked pleading as he spoke one last plea: "Let'ssss jussst go with the prisssoners now!"
"Ssssorry, I have an obligation to buy enough time for the Equessstrian traitor to get to the Queen." Agent X1 answers with a shake of the head. "I do not expect we will ssssurvive, but at leassst the Equesssstrian will tell of a way into their kingdom. Light the cloakssss, we will attack when the barrier comesss down to let the attackerssss out."
The Changeling X2 gives a pained look, but does what he is told, lighting on fire the cloaks his disguised comrade and the four pegasi lined up beside him are wearing. This kamikaze attack would be the only effective reply the defenders could give, and they had to make it count...
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Shining Armor's force stops about 50 ft from the wall, squarely facing it, and he temporarily lets down the protective barrier so that his force could begin their attack. That's when the "Flaming V" takes off and zooms over top of the wall, the pegasi wearing the flaming cloaks arranged in a wedge-shaped formation and diving straight toward the forces on the ground.
The appearance of the "Flaming V" temporarily stops the advance of the ground force, and a surprised Shining Armor scrambles to put back up the protective shield. As the rebel pegasi scream across the arid plan just above ground level, the shield goes back up, forcing the members of the formation to scatter away to avoid smacking headlong into it. The flying members of the Just Cause force are outside the new barrier, and immediately race to intercept the rebel flyers.
A series of individual mid-air duels result as Shining Armor again orders the attack forward toward the weak point in the wall. Acting Lieutenant Excelsior scores first blood by slashing an eye of one of the attackers, instantly causing him to plummet groundward, then goes to help 8-Bit, closely pursued by one of the other rebel attackers. A well-timed ram to the side by the griffon saves 8-Bit from being grabbed and pulled out of the sky, and the pursuer instantly also plummets groundward from the hard hit.
Shining lets down the barrier again, and former Hornpoint members race toward the pair of downed pegasi, overtaking and capturing them - although the unicorns succeeded in removing the burning cloaks off the rebel pegasi, they had already been badly burned and would eventually die of those burns. Following previous orders, a pair stay in place to restrain each pegasus while the rest of the force rushes rightward to join the assault on the weak point.
One of the flaming attackers, unoccupied by an opponent, sees an opening on "Quesadilla Polka", who is currently focused on lining up for the ram on the weak point, and zooms toward him. A shouted warning by Shining Armor alerts the earth pony just in time - he feels the searing heat of the flames just inches above his head as he ducks the diving attacker. Before the rebel can come around for a second try, he smacks headlong into an improvised magic barrier created by Shining Armor and drops to the ground - before he can recover, several unicorns are upon him and he joins the ranks of the pegasi prisoners.
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With three of the pegasi defenders captured and the other two engaged by the unhurt loyal forces, Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor orders the battering to begin, Lieutenant Vanguard coordinating groups that perform flying smashes with hooves between rolls of the cheese wheel at the wooden weak point. Quesadilla Polka, wearing a fierce expression the entire time, rolls at top speed toward the wooden barrier, the impact causing the timbers to shudder, although none of them break.
The shuddering impact causes Agent X2, still inside the fort's walls, to immediately realize he's in serious trouble - the entire plan he was operating under worked on the assumption the attackers didn't have anything that could break the weak point in the initial assault. He considers standing and fighting, but hearing the combination of whooshing overhead as the aerial battles continue and the shuddering timbers of continued ramming at the weak point convinces him it would be suicidal.
"What do we do, sir?" one of the guards of the access door to the prisoners asks X2 as the latter rushes up toward him. Immediately after the statement, all three hear the timbers of the weak point shudder again from an impact.
"We can't ssstay here. We need to evacuate the prisssoners, now!" X2 spits out in desperation.
"How? I don't think we have enough time for that!" the other guard shouts, and when the three hear the timbers splintering from another hit, X2 realizes there's no point arguing that.
Instead, the disguised drone charges past the guards into a torch-lit interior section of the fort. Inside are eight holding cells, five currently holding a single unicorn each behind a magic-proof lock. The prisoners - including a bedraggled, dazed and dirty Prince Blueblood - are temporarily roused from their torpor as X2 rushes past them into one of the holding cells, locking himself into the cell once inside. The subsequent bright green flash of magic and general darkness of the holding cells prevent recognizing the new disguise that X2 takes on - a Hornpoint prisoner that had died in their custody but would be assumed by the rescuers to still be alive. Another "replacement", and the way X2 would get back into Equestria without being recognized...
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The two prisoner guards, now without any kind of superior authority commanding them, can only watch helplessly as the assault proceeds on Fort Alpha, shadowy figures with wings appearing on top of the walls. The figures belong to the Just Cause attackers, who have knocked out the remaining two pegasi attackers and landed on top of the wall to scout out any potential further resistance. The prisoner guards now panic and abandon their posts, but the winged attackers coming screaming down (literally, thanks to Excelsior's griffon screeching) after them from on top of the wall.
Meanwhile, the timbers of the wooden weakpoint have been cracked and buckled by the abuse of the hard cheddar wheel rolled against them and repeated flying smashes from the hooves of the attackers. A hole opens up in the wood, and Shining Armor calls a stop, recognizing that he can work the hole open with his own magic powers at this point. The attackers back away, Quesadilla Polka dismounting from on top of the giant cheese wheel, and Shining Armor launches small magenta spheres from his horn at the hole in the timbers. The impacts are shattering, like cannonball impacts would be, and after a few shots the timbers of the weak point snap apart and tumble down, leaving an opening for the non-flying members of Operation Just Cause to get inside.
Lieutenant Vanguard doesn't even wait for the order to be given, immediately leading a charge into the fort through the newly-created breach. The rest of his squad follows, as do the ex-Hornpoint members that aren't tending the captured pegasi. Shining Armor himself stays near the back, making sure the rear is protected before clambering over the remains of the wooden beams into Fort Alpha.
Vanguard and his command were already scattering through the fort when Shining Armor entered, linking up with the members of Excelsior's assault that had already cornered and captured the two prisoner guards. As the two former guards are hauled in front of Shining Armor, the latter sees Flash Sentry fly to the top of the fort's flagpole and rip off the tattered rebel flag from its mount - an important symbolic moment in fall of both the fort and the Agents of Chaos.
"WHERE ARE THE PRISONERS? I KNOW YOU HAVE SOME HERE!" Shining Armor spits out at one of the captured guards.
"Wha-what..." the guard tries a stammering reply, only to get a smack in the face from one of Shining's forehooves.
"I'M NOT GOING TO ASK AGAIN, WHERE ARE THE PRISONERS?" the unicorn Lieutenant Captain shouts again, and this time the captured pegasus points a trembling foreleg toward one of the fort's buildings, one not yet being investigated by the scattering members of the Just Cause force.
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Shining is on it quickly, galloping towards the door leading into the building housing the holding cells. He turns his head slightly as he rams through the door at full force, skidding to a stop between the holding cells. The prisoners look up at his armored figure with some degree of hope, although stay back as he begins kicking open the locks with a hindleg one-by-one, already knowing the locks would resist any attempt to open them with unicorn magic.
As the locks are busted open, the weak unicorn prisoners slowly stand hopefully. As they do so, Shining Armor is relieved to find the unicorn Prince Blueblood among them, his usually well-groomed mane and tail dirty and scraggly, the white of his coat soiled by mud and dust, and his eyes bloodshot from fatigue and lack of sleep.
The prisoners cautiously form up behind Shining Armor, recognizing him instantly as their liberator, and Blueblood speaks his first words in several days, made hoarse by a parched throat and his fatigue: "I... don't think... I've ever been so happy... to see a pony in my life...I was sure... we would die... here."
"It's no less a fate than Your Highness deserves." Shining Armor replies with cold, biting words, accompanied by a glare that matched, if not surpassed, the chill and contempt of the spoken word.
Prince Blueblood immediately knew why the Lieutenant Captain had spoken those words, and was ashamed that he had no answer for them. His humiliation was not now ended, despite his restored freedom, but would continue all the way back to Canterlot...