Chapter Fourteen: Affairs Of Darkness. Part V
"They don't look very happy to see us!" Pinkie shouted to the other riders in the Black Hawk.
"So... Any ideas?!" Captain Greene yelled over the various sounds of L.A. anti air weapons flashing by the helicopter.
"I don't know," Sergent Mace began. "But maybe rushing in, guns blazing, wasn't the best one!" The marine spoke, taking shots at the enemy below.
"We've got too much fire coming in!" Corporal Star Sabre shouted. "Maybe we... maybe we should fall back!"
"Yeah! Backing off is fine with me!" Lime Tree suggested.
"We can't just run away!" Rainbow Dash answered. "We gotta save the princess!"
"I would like to," Lenard interjected, "but there's a legion of soldiers in the way."
Applejack scowled. "You said yerself that retreat ain't an option!"
"It shouldn't be, but I'm not sure how long we'll last if we don't!" The captain answered.
"We might not get another chance!" Gerri added.
The battered Princess of the night lifted her head.
"Hark! Thy enemy will be relentless! A Leviathan mustn't be trifled with lightly! Thou art not a coward for making a wise withdraw. Though it pains me, we cannot aid my sister if we perish trying to reach her."
"She's right." Mace spoke. "That thing is way too big to just openly assault- whoa!"
A flare-spear flew past the cabin and the entire helicopter lurched. "Keep her steady Mike!"
"Trying!" The pilot responded. "But it would be much easier if we weren't getting shot at constantly!"
More flares-spears flew past the craft, indicating the gunners on the massive vehicle were zeroing in. Commander Stuart brought a pair of binoculars to his face.
"They've got fast air incoming! What did you call those things? Mounts? Well I think I see some coming this way!"
Lenard Greene's eyes widened. "That tears it! The jig's up, we've got to bail, now!"
"Kaiser, take us out of here!" Commanding Officer Mason Stuart barked. "We have no choice."
"Aye, sir!" Mike answered. "Were running our of fuel, anyway." he mumbled under his breath.
The Black Hawk lurched once more, leaning away from the massive moving fortress and the incoming fire rushing to meet them. As the helicopter managed to gain some distance, its various occupants finally rested.
"I managed to get a few pictures of that thing before we left," Gerri mentioned, flipping through the menus of a tiny digital camera. "They might help later on."
"I suppose we could use them for intelligence." Lime Tree added.
The group looked over the photos. The "Leviathan" appeared to be a massive, several hundred foot long, armored, rolling building, held up by several massive wheels.
"Sheesh! They should have called it "The Centipede!" That's a lot of tires!" Commander Stuart commented.
Nothing seemed to be pulling the gargantuan vessel, but a large plume of smoke billowing out of it. The transport was bristling with weapons. Some mounted to the top of the wheeled beast, while others were scattered around the sides. The vehicle itself appeared to made out an extremely tough metal alloy, already proven to be immune to lighter machine gun and cannon fire.
The occupants sat back in their seats.
"Well that could have gone better." Star Sabre mumbled to no one in particular.
"Tis not a total loss. Thou hath managed to rescue me," Luna answered.
"True," The winged corporal remembered. "Are we really going to leave the Princess- your sister there?"
"No," Captain Greene answered. "I have no intentions of leaving her behind, at least not for long. What I do have though, is an idea."
*******************
A helicopter landed in a small clearing. As some of the occupants of the helicopter emerged, a human technician rushed over to meet them.
"Sir! When they told me you were coming, I thought they were joking! There are still several checks we need to make!" the technician shouted over the sound of the copter's whirling blades.
"And if we had time, you could make them. Unfortunately, we don't have that time," Captain Greene answered.
"If something goes wrong, I'm afraid we can't take responsibility," the technician claimed.
Lenard's face flashed a bit of anger. "Are you here to get me to sign a waiver, or prep this thing?" Lenard's expression slowly calmed down to a look of mild annoyance. "Look, I know the risk, but we don't have many options."
The technician nodded. "Very well. Most of the repairs are complete. We found the source of your earlier problems: a leak in the fuel system probably caused by the extreme amount of turbulence you took, or some kind of "magical" interference. Either way, it's been fixed."
"Thought you said that would take weeks." Greene rose an eyebrow.
"I was being a bit melodramatic earlier." the technician grinned sheepishly. The Captain rolled his eyes.
"Just tell me it will work."
"Well... Let me put it this way. There's nothing telling us that it won't. There is the issue of fuel. You're still out, and there's not a lot of it lying around here you know."
"Not a problem, I already made an order for some." the Captain spoke.
"What? How?" the technician questioned.
The pilot pointed in the general direction of west. A dim blue glow could be seen on the horizon. As it faded away, Lenard's radio cracked to life.
....."You better make good use of this! We wasted most of the anomaly's life getting this to you!".....
"I understand Marc. How soon til you can open another one?"
......"No clue. You know, we weren't even supposed to be testing the array for another two weeks! We still can't open grounded anomalies yet, the archway isn't finished. They had to bring your fuel in on another helicopter. We tried to stabilized that last one, but that chopper was all we could get through."....
"Any soldier arrivals?"
....."No. Apparently they thought that it would be a better idea to send more techies to get the array up a full capacity faster. That gunfire is getting real close though, so I'm not sure that was a good idea."....
"We can't loose the array, Marc. It's game over if we do."
...."I understand. We'll try to hold out."....
"That's all I can ask for. Greene out."
As the radio went silent, a large helicopter lumbered over the hills.
"Looks like your order arrived." the technician commented.
*******************
F-15 Crash Site. 17 miles south of Ponyville.
With the limited equipment at the technicians' disposal, the small team slowly and carefully mounted two large drop tanks under the wings of Lenard Greene's F-15 fighter. Inside, the pilot could be seen flicking away at the various switches, knobs, and panels of the cockpit, some of which had actually been repaired with duct tape.
"I don't have to tell you to take it easy. She's a bit beat up already." the technician warned.
"I know, I did most of it." the pilot answered as the engines slowly began to spin up.
"You sure you want to do this?" Mike asked one last time.
"I've got to agree with Kaiser, this can't be the only solution." Stuart added.
"Well, while you two come up with another one, I'm going up." the pilot answered.
......"Greene, Highlander here. We can't spare you too many troops, but were sending what we can. Might as well make this a joint assault. General Snow Wisp says she can spare a few. We're on the run anyway. It might take a while, but we can get some support over your way soon."....
"Understood sir." the Captain answered. "My fighter is repaired and I am going up as soon as possible."
...."Excellent, because we have reports of fast air incoming from enemy lines. You might meet some resistance up there."...
"I have weapons, but I'm not sure how useful heat seekers will be."
Highlander could be heard chuckling through the radio.
...."Looks like they were right about guns then. Put a few rounds in 'em Captain. How copy?"...
It was Lenard's turn to chuckle. "Solid copy sir."
..."Good. Highlander out."...
The Princess of the Night trotted up to the now humming machine.
"When I requested a demonstration that day in the castle, I did not expect that this would be how it would be conducted." Luna spoke.
"Neither did I, Luna. Though It feels a bit strange to call you by just your name."
"I hath waited centuries to find myself on a first name basis with those I consider my friends. Know this, Captain. You and your comrades are, and forever will be our friends."
"Thank you Princess."
Luna nodded, then stepped back as the canopy closed around the pilot.
Lenard returned his attention to the instrument panel. With one final look over, the aircraft seemed to be in order.
"It's good to be back in the ole' office." the pilot spoke to himself.
...."Radio check. Can you here me in there Lenard?"... The technician called out from the safety of a large tree. The massive, towering redwood had several platforms, ladders, and walkways painstakingly built into position. Radio and control equipment had been fitted onto several of the platforms.
..."This is the control towe- tree. Our call-sign is Tree House. We managed to clear out a little less than a mile of empty space in the time we've been here. Really bumpy space. Watch out for tree stumps. If you can give us a few days, we can smooth that out for you."....
"Sorry Tree House, don't have a few days." Lenard answered.
...."I guess so. Check flight surfaces."...
Several flaps on the aircraft's wings and tail began to move back and forth.
"Looks good." the pilot commented.
...."Then there's nothing else I can do to keep you down here. Good luck Lenard."....
...."You are clear for take off."....
Lenard turned his head in the cockpit to get a look those who had accompanied him on his great journey thus far.
Mike, Gerri, Steven, Stuart, and Star Sabre saluted.
Rainbow Dash and Lime Tree made the best mock salute they could.
Applejack slowly took off her hat and held it near her chest.
Pinkie Pie excitedly waved.
Luna gave a royal nod as she and the others moved toward one of the helicopters. As they filed in, Rainbow Dash gave one last hoof pump.
Lenard gave back a thumbs up.
She probably has no idea what that means. Lenard thought.
The engines began to spin up to taxiing speed and the aircraft began to lurch forward, bumping through several small holes in the makeshift runway.
"I might not make it off the ground!" The pilot thought as he made acute movements with the flight stick, avoiding as many of the potholes as he could.
As the aircraft accelerated, those small adjustments became impossible. Fortunately, the F-15's landing gear simply skipped over them. The "runway" began to smooth out as the aircraft made it's way out of the wooded area of the site.
"Okay, finally picking up some speed," the Captain spoke.
...."Just keep it steady. You're almost in the clear."....
"Roger, Tree House. Throttle is wide open."
A plume of white fire ignited in the refitted afterburners as the Captain's friends watched from afar.
..."37 knots."... the pilot cracked over the radio.
..."52."...
..."70."...
..."120"...
...."Here goes nothing!"....
Lenard pulled back on the stick.
The onlookers looked on as the aircraft raced into the sky.
A nearly Pinkie-sized grin adorned Lenard's face as the fighter took to the air.
"This is Sparrow One. I'm up!"
...."This is Tree House. We can see that. Let's perform a few checks to keep it that way."....
"Alright." Greene answered.
...."First, kill those burners. You'll want to conserve fuel.".
Lenard pulled back on the throttle and the engines cooled down to their usual, but still quite hot status.
...."Let's run an inflight surface check. We'll watch from down here."....
...."Check rudder."....
The plane yawed left and right.
...."Check elevators."....
The fighter rose and fell.
...."Check ailerons. Do a barrel roll!"....
The pilot tilted the stick to the left, and the fighter performed a textbook heart line roll maneuver.
...."This is Tree House. You're right, it looks good. You're clear to leave my airspace. Your friends will be following you in the helicopters."....
"Roger." answered Lenard.
"This Captain Greene to helicopters Bravo One and Two. Follow me in!"
The F-15 banked into the horizon.
*******************
Even from the air, the massive armored vehicle looked menacing. Far below, various enemy defenses stood armed and ready. Lenard kept his head on a swivel, constantly seeking out targets.
...."Tree House to Sparrow."...
"I'm here, Tree House."
...."We don't exactly have radar or sensors to help you out, but we do have information streaming in from friendly ground forces in the area. General Snow Wisp's "Steel Hoof" battle wagon battalion has arrived, along with support from Highlander. They report several scouts in the vicinity of the Leviathan. Expect reinforcements once they've spotted you. Choose your targets carefully, we don't have anymore ammo for you. What you have is all you're going to get. You are weapons free and clear to engage. Tree House out."....
"Copy, Tree House. Sparrow to Bravo One. Can you hear me, Mace?"
...."Loud and clear, Captain."....
"Here's the plan. I'm going to clear out some of the Leviathan's defense weapons. That will allow you and the others to close in with the helicopters and board that thing."
...."Understood sir, Just don't do to much damage to the outer shell. The last thing we want to hurt the Princess, if she's even in there."....
"I understand. Though I'm not sure I could get through the armor if I wanted to. That's your job."
....."Copy. Bravo out."....
Lenard overheard Steven telling Mike to take the helicopter down, over the radio.
With a quick flick of the flight stick, The pilot rolled the F-15 inverted and dove down into the fray.
Lenard lined up his hud with the large vehicle, attempting to set up a strafing run. He spotted several surface to air spear-flares dotted along the top of the vehicular beast. The F-15 zoomed overhead at a high, but subsonic speed.
...."Watch out for AA fire, Captain.".... Mike signaled from Bravo One.
"Alright, I'm on it." Lenard answered.
The fighter rose into a high loop, and pulled out of the maneuver pointing straight toward the Leviathan.
...."Sparrow! Looks like you got their attention. They're concentrating their fire on you sir! Look out!"....
Bravo Two called out.
"Calm down, Two. I'm pretty sure I can evade them."
The pilot's optimism was abruptly cut short by a hail of flare flak, violently shaking the plane.
...."They're getting a bead on you Sparrow!"....
The tiny maroon explosions grew more and more intense as the pilot continued to line a strafing run. Just as he was about to fire the guns, Lenard spotted a slight glint in the corner of his eye. As he turned his head, a spear slammed into one of the air intake cowlings.
"Woah! Pulling up!" The Captain yelled.
The pilot brought his aircraft out of the torrent of AA fire.
....."You alright, Sparrow?"....
"Fine, just superficial damage."
The aircraft hadn't suffered much from the impact. The spear only sliced through the empty space of the intakes, but the intakes were only a few feet away from the cockpit.
"Sparrow to any friendly ground forces." The pilot spoke over his radio. "It's getting pretty dangerous up here. I think there are more AA units than we can see, hidden in the forest. Can someone take them out?"
...."This is Lieutenant Cleaves. Hold on, I'll give a radio to the General.".....
The was a brief pause.
...."Can you hear me? This is Steel Hoof battalion, and I am General Snow Wisp. Can you hear me? Is there a button I'm supposed to press?!"....
"I can hear you fine, General."
....."Alrighty then. Cleaves says that you need assistance with enemy anti air. Is that correct?"....
"Yes ma'am. Can you assist?"
...."We can see some of them now, holed up in the trees. You might want to hold off for a moment. Those kinds of weapons were designed to take out the fastest of chariots at a long distance, so don't be too surprised if they score a few hits on you. Be careful. Oh and by the way, you have company up there."....
"Company? What do you mean by th-" A small group of pandragon mounts hurtled past, cutting the pilot off mid sentence.
"Oh, that! Sparrow to Tree House, I've got incoming Pandragon mounts flying in what appears to be a finger four formation!"
...."Tree House to Sparrow! Break off and engage them! Those things are pretty much fighters!".....
"Understood. Turning to engage!"
_________________________________________________________
Snow Wisp stared upward as the flying machine and the dragons tailing it, zoomed overhead.
"Alright, you heard him." she began.
"No, actually we didn't, he was talking over your radio." A smart mouthed soldier responded.
Snow Wisp rolled her eyes. "To put it shortly, we need to take out the enemy AA emplacements in the forest. With those up, Captain Greene won't be able to take out the Leviathan's defenses. And if he can't do that, then no pony will be able to reach the Princess."
"I THINK I CAN HELP WITH THAT." a loud voice proclaimed.
The soldiers turned their heads to see an Apache helicopter lowly hovering toward them.
"ARCH TWO, REPORTING. WE ARE-"
"-Tryin' to get us killed?" Cleaves shouted with a spot on Jersey accent. "Cut the speakers, moron! Use the radios!"
The helicopter appeared to have been rigged with a spot light, as well as some kind of voice projection cone, similar to the ones used on balloons. One of the pilots appeared to be working a control panel.
....."As I was saying. This is Arch Two. We are out of ammunition from a previous engagement-" the pilot seemed to stress those words, "-but still have a plenty equipment up here to aid you. We have enough fuel to stay a while, but not forever.".....
"LOUD and clear, Arch." Lieutenant Cleaves answered. "Despite the ringing in my ears I'm glad to see you. Stay on this frequency."
Snow Wisp held her new radio unit in one of her hooves. It appeared to be haphazardly thrown together in the short amount of time whoever built it had. The earpiece had a small metal clip, most likely a new addition to accommodate pony ears. The earpiece was corded to a small box, which had been modified to feature really big buttons, probably put there for hoof use. She attached the small device to her right ear and put the larger part of the unit in one of her uniform's many pockets, then she put a hoof to the button labeled "power."
Suddenly, the mare could hear a torrent of several voices emanating from the device in her ear. She turned the large knob until she could only hear the sounds of her own battalion.
"Arch, do you see anypony hiding in the trees?" she spoke through the radio.
....."Yes ma'am. Infrared scopes show dozens of contacts. It's hard to make out what they are. Most likely a mixture of griffins and dragons minors manning turrets."...
"Alright, You spot out the AA and we'll take them out." Snow Wisp answered. "Give me a target."
The pilot tilted the copter forward, making sure not to rise too far above the treeline.
The General raised a hoof and folded it back, signaling the battle wagons to ready their weapons. The wagon crews began loading what appeared to be massive JSL arrows into large launchers built onto the battle wagons.
Snow Wisp raised her hoof again and began to twirl it, signalling the wagons to move forward. The beefy stallions yoked to the wagons nodded and began to push and pull the wagons into place. Human troops ran along side them brandishing their weapons.
Snow Wisp put a hoof to her ear, then nodded as though receiving directions. The Apache shined it's makeshift spotlight down on a large group of trees a few hundred yards forward.
The General raiser her hoof once more, this time bringing it down in a quick, direct motion.
"Firing!" one of the crewstallions yelled.
Several loud thumping sounds reverberated throughout the area as the wagons fired their ordinance.
The tree sized spears rained down on the designated target zone. Doing some basic math in his head, Lieutenant Cleaves figured one of those could take out a small apartment building.
Several concussive blasts detonated on the circle of light produced by the Apache.
"Scratch that! It's more like an apartment complex! " the bewildered Lieutenant thought.
Snow Wisp nodded again then motioned the wagons to move up to their next target.
"Snow Wisp to Captain Greene. We're laying down targets left and right. Your attack corridor will be ready shortly."
....."Understood ma'am. I'm out running my assailants up here, for now. I'm about to turn and fight them. Keep an eye on the sky"....
__________________________________________________________________
Far above the ground battle, Lenard watched as a helicopter spotted out sections of tree cover, sections that ceased to exist a few seconds later.
The pandragon mounts were closing in around the F-15. At first their speed was an intriguing mystery, now it was starting to make Captain Greene nervous.
He made sure to keep his attackers in the cockpit mirrors and pushed the throttle just enough to get maximum thrust without engaging the afterburners. As he was about to reach supersonic speed, he noticed a crimson glare in the mirrors.
A flare spear was racing right toward him.
The pilot reflexively jerked the flight stick to the right then pulled back to dodge the incoming weapon. The F-15 half rolled and pulled away. Lenard turned his head to get his eyes on target, only to nearly suffer a heart attack.
The flare spear was right where it had been before,
Right behind him. Only now it was closer.
"But..."
Lenard swung the aircraft down toward the deck. The apparent missile followed.
"How is it...?"
Lenard pulled the jet into an extremely tight loop. He could feel the g-forces tugging at his entire body. It felt as though he was going to shoved clean through the cockpit floor. His vision began to darken as the g-force pulled him closer and closer to blacking out. He pushed out of the loop just before his vision faded completely. The violent maneuver seemed to have shaken the spear off. It streaked under him harmlessly. The flare propulsion fizzled out, and the deadly weapon dropped out of the sky.
The pilot quickly returned his attention to the pandragons.
"They must have fired it, but how in the world did it just track me?"
The pandragon minors and their living aircraft surged forward, discouraged by the lack of flaming debris in front of them.
Captain Greene responded by rolling, then accelerating the jet straight toward them. The flyers began to converge at extremely high speed.
"If you want to bullfight, then just call me The Matador!" The pilot yelled from his cockpit.
The pilot could have sworn he heard one of the pandragon aerialist yell, "Break!" as the group darted out in multiple directions to avoid him.
"Ole!" the Captain yelled to no one in particular. "Alright I've scattered them, now I just have to pick them off one by one."
A pillar of flame arced down past the cockpit, melting a less than decent sticker Mike had joking glued to the inside of the canopy before they entered Equestria in the first place. Try as he might, Lenard hadn't been able to get that sticker off.
"Well, that's one way."
The F-15 jinked to avoid the next round of fire raining down from one of the dragons.
Perhaps scattering them wasn't the best idea!
The dragon over shot his target and placed himself right in the center of the Captain's gun sight.
Captain Lenard Greene did what came naturally. He leveled the aircraft and clicked the flight stick trigger.
Lethal cannon fire tore into the flying beast. The small aerialist bailed off of his mount and darted away under his own winged power. The mount spiraled out of control and impacted the ground, putting a hole in the ceaseless treeline of the Everfree Forest. Several flare explosions shot out around the crater.
Another "Panfighter" darted out in the confusion. Another burst of Lenard's cannon fire struck true, but the beast seemed to shrug it off. Another much longer burst downed him.
"Or was it a her?" This pandragon minor looked female. "She" appeared to have drooping spines on her head, which resembled the long hairstyle Gerri wore. Its figure was slimmer, more curvy, and a slightly lighter shade of red then the male pandragon aerialist minors. Magenta maybe.
As the ejected female minor darted away, Lenard regained control of his thought process. There was still two to go. The pilot swiveled his head. He could only spot one of them. Lenard checked behind him. Nothing was trailing the fighter. "My six is clear. Going in for the kill."
From a distance, the dragon aerialist appeared to be frantically tugging at the reins of his mount, probably trying to make an escape. As the F-15 fell behind the fleeing pandragon, the beast accelerated away at incredible speed. Smoke and flames poured out of the dragons mouth as the beast huffed and panted, clearly straining itself to go as fast as possible.
Lenard jumped as a sudden growling tone came over his headset. The tone that meant that-
His eyes went wide in astonishment. "You have got to be kidding me!"
That tone could only mean that one of the on board heat seeking missiles had managed to obtain a lock. "This is just too much! How is that even possible?" the pilot stammered. He flipped up the safety cover on the flight stick and pressed the missile release with his thumb.
With a hiss, a Sidewinder flew straight and true toward the terrified pandragon pilot and his struggling mount. The missile exploded next to the dragon mount's head. In a puff of smoke and fire beast fell limply out of the sky, the aerialist nowhere to be seen. A hardened piece of dragon scale stuck into the canopy glass like a small dagger.
The Captain sighed. "That's three, now where's the fourth one?"
The pilot scanned the skies, searching for the last of his reptilian adversaries.
A final pandragon mount lept off of a cloud and dove down at the F-15, streaking fire all around it. The glow of the moon had completely obscured the attacker. Warning tones blared in the cockpit as the streaks of fire hit their mark. The aircraft shuddered under the impacts. Several systems, including the fire control system, began to malfunction.
"So much for heat-seeking," Lenard thought. "She's hurting now. Teach was always saying to look out for the hun in the sun. Or in this case, the goon in the moon," The pilot thought.
He swung the aircraft away, putting his adversary at his right. The dragon managed to keep up with him. He jinked left and right to shake off the enemy, but the panfighter matched him move for move. A jet of fire narrowly missed the plane, but still manged to blacken its tail.
Lenard jumped. As much as he hated to admit it, this guy was good.
"No more screwing around!"
He spun the aircraft, performing several consecutive barrel rolls. That was sure to get the enemy pilot to scratch his head, that, or he would think he'd critically damaged him.
The dragon closed in.
"That's right, move a little closer..."
Lenard tugged back on the stick, pulling the fighter out of the spin in a seemingly random upward direction. The fighter lost airspeed until it hung almost motionless in the sky. Lenard kicked the rudder and sent the fighter into a controlled stall, right above the dragon. He fired his guns once again, sending 20mm rounds streaking into the beast. The dragon held its ground, refusing to falter. It sharply reared back, putting itself behind the F-15.
Lenard popped out the speed brakes, closed the throttle, and put the aircraft at the edge of stalling to loose his speed and drop behind his attacker. The attacker appeared to do something similar, and the two flyers found themselves flying wing tip to flapping wing tip.
Lenard turned his head to get a good look at his at his enemy. He furrowed his eyebrows at the sight. Sitting behind the protective glass of the dragon saddle sat not a pandragon minor,
but a griffin.
Lenard noticed the dragon mount was clearly injured, but then again, so was his plane. As the two adversaries prepared to duel once more, General Snow Wisp's voice cracked over the radio.
..."Sparrow, this is Steel Hoof. Your flight path is safe."...
Lenard looked over to his right. The griffin pulled up his flight goggles to look his adversary in the eye. He then pulled his mount down into the forest canopy, where a jet had no chance of getting to him.
"Go lick you're wounds, and I'll go lick mine." The pilot quietly spoke with legitimate respect.
"Steele Hoof, Greene here. Acknowledged. I'm making my way down there now."
*******************
A griffin flying a pandragon mount landed in a small cave deep within the canopy of the forest. Several Liberation Alliance soldiers trotted up to him.
"M'lord. You have returned." One of the soldiers commented.
"We're you not expecting me to?" The griffin spoke as he hobbled off of his mount.
"Permission to speak freely sir?" The soldier asked.
The griffin sighed. "Granted."
"You were in a hospital bed two hours ago, Phalanx. So no, we really didn't expect to see you again." The ram finally answered.
"Bravely spoken. Now, one of you. take a message to the Council. Our enemy has reached the Leviathan, Tell them I humbly suggest they make preparations to use the "special weapons." They will know what I mean."
A pandragon minor nodded. "Understood. I shall send the word." The messenger flew off.
Another soldier walked up to the griffin.
"Praetor? What did you mean by "special weapons?"
"In due time, soldier. In due time."
*******************
On board the helicopter known as "Bravo One" several familiar ponies and humans watched as a smoking F-15 fighter safely navigated the once hostile airspace and dove down toward the Leviathan. Several defense turrets on the large vehicle exploded under steady cannon fire from the fighter
...."This is Sparrow. I'm out of ammo. unless-"....
The pilot blindly fired his remaining sidewinder missiles toward the large lumbering transport, but somehow manged to miss the massive target.
...."Meh, it was worth a try. Most of the Leviathan's defense is dust anyway. You're clear Bravo."....
"Bravo here. Thanks Captain." Steven answered from the cabin of one of the helicopters.
...."Anytime mates!" Lenard spoke in a mock English accent. "Except for now, of course."
...."Tree House to Bravo-Insertion. You are clear to begin your extraction mission. As for Sparrow, you've done all you can. Return to base."....
....."Roger, Tree House. This is Sparrow. Returning to base.".....
....."Try not to dig out the ground when you land this time."....
....."Ha ha. That's pretty funny Tree House. Please, spare me your comedic genius. It's too much. I'm heading back. Sparrow out."....
The wounded fighter flew away.
"Well I thought it was pretty funny," a squeaky female voice giggled.
"You think everything is funny, Pinkie," a more raspy, but still female voice answered.
"Quiet down y'all! Ah'm trying to hear that guy over there!" a southern voice silenced the other two.
"This is Commander Stuart to Bravo Two. The way has been paved! Assault the Leviathan!"
The two helicopters emerged from the shadowy forest and tilted forward.
Sporadic bursts from the few surviving defense turrets kept the riders on edge.
Star Sabre, Steven Mace and various other soldiers from Colonel Highlander's forces readied their weapons. The helicopters swayed to left and right to annoy the enemy gunners. Lime Tree was a bit more green than usual. "Kaiser. You think you could *heave* stop doing that?" the air sick stallion inquired.
"Ah know, right?" Applejack answered, her face a bit paler than usual.
"Hardly the largest problem we have right now!" Mike yelled from the cockpit. "We're landing!"
"The LZ's hot!" Steven yelled as both helicopters touched down. The doors swung open and several soldiers stampeded toward the massive rolling Leviathan, the Princess of the Night took after them.
Back in the helicopters, Applejack gave Rainbow Dash an inquisitive look.
"Aren't y'all going to dash in there after 'em?"
The rainbow maned pegasus sulked. "Duh! I'm brave, but I'm not stupid! They still won't let me use any of the weapons!"
Applejack facehoofed.
"I brought some snacks for the wait!" Pinkie Pie shouted.
Rainbow turned. "Let me gue-"
"Cupcakes!" Pinkie declared!
"Ah guess that'll do fer now." Applejack spoke. She took one and bit into it. "Ymmm! What's in these Pinkie?"
"Something the humans call "energy drinks!" I found a few cans of it last week. I figured we could use some energy, so I dumped them right in!"
Mike overheard from the cockpit. .
"Pinkie? On caffeine?" Mike brought a gloved hand to his face and dragged it down in exasperation. "Hey, can I have one?" the pilot gave in.
"Might as well!" Pinkie laughed. "It's been a looooooooooong night!"
The helicopters lifted away.
*********************
"Why did you come with us?" Star Sabre asked Lime Tree as they grouped alongside the Leviathan.
"I'm not just going to sit in the helicopter, waiting to get shot down. I'm not stupid, you know." Lime Tree answered.
"What ever you say." the winged corporal replied. "I'm more surprised that Luna came."
The Princess of the Night galloped up to them. "True liberation is at hoof! We ride!"
With a majestic, rearing neigh, Luna and the group of soldiers charged forward.
"Hey, I see a ladder!" Sabre called out.
The group of soldiers sprinted and galloped up to what appeared to be the main section of the massive moving structure. A walkway lined the perimeter of that specific section. Several of the soldiers tried to leap up to the railing.
"You gotta jump then latch on!" Mace suggested. He did just that.
With a leap worthy of the Olympic long jump, Steven Mace grabbed onto the lower railing of the hanging walkway, then climbed up in a most undignified fashion, followed by Star Sabre, Lime Tree, the other soldiers, and Princess Luna. They rushed up several flights of exterior stairs, searching for an entrance, but none could be found. They soon reached the top of the stairs and found themselves in the center of the roof of the transport. The few defenders still standing took pot shots at them, but were quickly felled by the crack team of allies.
"Now, how exactly do we get in?" Lime Tree asked.
A pandragon minor emerged from a hatch, clutching a firebolt caster in his scaly claws. He jumped at the sight of the enemy soldiers and fled back into the Leviathan.
"Sabre?"
"Yes Mace?"
"Might I suggest a standard issue Equestrian smoke bomb?"
"Don't mind if I do. How does seven of them sound?"
"That will suffice, my good stallion."
"Indeed!" Corporal Star Saber answered. He chucked a hoof full of the small round pellets into the hatch then closed it. A plume of smoke billowed out of it shortly after, forcing the soldiers to stand back.
As the smoke cleared, a coughing pandragon minor drunkenly flew out of the hatch and spiraled into the ground away from the Leviathan.
"Oooooookay... So there's our entrance." Lime Tree answered his own question. "So who's first?"
One by one the group climbed down the hatch. The ladder led down into a much darker chamber within the Leviathan. The soldiers inched downward slowly, making sure not make any loud noises. They quietly passed several unconscious soldiers on the upper levels as they climbed down.
"Make haste!" Luna whispered.
"I'm not sure how long these guys will stay down." Lime Tree added.
Mace abruptly stopped descending, shushed and pointed down. From below, distant voices could be heard.
"Can't we get this thing to move faster?" one of the voices spoke.
"Would you like to go out and push?" another voice answered.
"I just don't like being cooped up in here. Surely we've reached the border?"
"Not yet. What do ya want, this thing weighs more than my mother in law!"
"We are moving at top speed, right?"
"As fast as it'll go."
"Whatever then."
"I'll tell you what. I'll go down to engineering to see what they have to say. Maybe we can crank the speed up a bit."
"Yeah, you do that."
The sound of claw steps indicated that one of them was walking away. Another set of claw steps indicated that the other was moving toward the ladder. As the griffin made his way into the ladder tube, he shrieked as several hands and hoofs grabbed onto him and pulled him up into the darkened shaft.
Various muffled punching sounds could be heard. Several feathers could be seen falling back down the shaft.
Star Sabre, Mace, Luna and the other soldiers climbed down to the floor. The room was lighted by several glowing sticks that flooded the chamber in a light blue glow.
"What do you suppose this place is?" Lime Tree whispered.
Several books were precariously lined in stacks all over the room. Various papers had been stuffed into several wooden crates.
The blank flanked green stallion took a look at some of the papers. "Looks like maps and other diagrams. Wait! There are schematics here! A few messages too!" Lime Tree explained.
"Let me see those." Luna trotted up to the stallion. After looking over some of them, Luna sighed in defeat. "I am unsure of what I see here, but these are clearly weapons plans of some kind."
"Like what?" Mace cautiously asked.
Lime Tree skimmed through several of them. "A lot of stuff. Weapons, vehicles, even the Leviathan itself! I see some mission logs and several pictures of rams, griffins, dragons, and a few ponies. Though I don't recognize any of them."
"I suggest we take as much of this bounty as we can. It could all be very important later. Come now. We must continue on." The midnight blue alicorn ordered.
"Hold on, do these look familiar?" Lime Tree handed the alicorn a charred piece of parchment.
Luna's eyes went wide. "Tis the Elements! This illustration is of the Elements of Harmony!"
Star Sabre cocked an eyebrow. "There's a picture of Ms. Sparkle and her friends?"
"No, the actual Elements themselves." Luna answered.
"What would they do with the six elemental jewels?" Star Sabre inquired.
"It does not say." Luna sighed. "This parchment is badly damaged and was most likely meant to be disposed."
"Perhaps as some kind of power source?" Lime Tree offered.
"No time to think about it now, we still have a mission here." Mace reminded them.
"Yea thee I say! We must press on." Luna spoke.
The other human and pony soldiers began to stuff the papers, books and anything of value into their packs and bags. The soldiers grabbed anything of any use and made their way toward a door on the other side of the store room.
As they opened the doors, a nearly suffocating cloud of smoke billowed out of the doorway. As it cleared, the group found themselves on a catwalk, crossing over a large and extremely hot room. At the bottom of the cavernous room sat several rams and griffins, shoveling what appeared to be coal into large boilers. A steady, rhythmic hissing erupted out of the many steam engines as the workers moved at a synchronized pace.
"This must be engineering." Lime Tree whispered.
"No need in alerting them to our presence," Star Sabre commented. "Better stay on our hoof tips."
The soldiers stealthily crept along the catwalk like the animal the walkway was named after. Just as they neared the end of the catwalk, a large clump of soot stuck to the bottom dislodged and plummeted onto the head of one of the shoveling rams.
The ram shot his attention up to the catwalk.
"Hey!-"
"-Is for ponies. Did you see something?" The overseer asked. The ram squinted his eyes and gave the catwalk a good look over from below.
"No."
"Then get back to work," the overseer barked.
The sneaking soldiers stood back up on the catwalk, thankful they hadn't been noticed. They reached the other side and quickly made their way out of the boiling room.
"That, was way to close." One of the pony soldiers mumbled.
The group continued on until the reached a long corridor with a blind corner. Steven crouched up to the corner and peeked around the side.
"There are two ram guards standing in front of a large barricaded door. I'd say that's our target."
Star Sabre nodded. "On three?"
"On three." Steven answered.
"One."
"Two."
"Thre-"
Firebolts struck the space where Steven's head would have been a fraction of a second later.
"Shoot! Looks like they saw us!"
"INTRUDERS! Show yourselves!" the guards commanded.
"If you say so." Mace and Sabre hurled themselves into the corridor, weapons firing. Flaming arrows and incendiary rounds rained down into the hallway.
The two guards, not expecting anything so bold, were completely taken by surprise. The man and the pegasus's gun and bow fire quickly cut them down to size. The guards dropped, and the two got back on their feet/hooves.
"That was a bit foalish, don't you think?" Luna was clearly annoyed..
"It got the job done." Mace answered.
"It also got you shot!" Lime Tree answered.
It was at this point that the marine noticed a sharp burning torrent of pain in his left arm. He looked over to it and noticed a streak of charred skin on his shoulder.
"Firebolts burn. Who knew?" The soldier bravely attempted to shrug it off.
"Dude, that looks like it hurts! You alright?" one of the other human soldiers asked.
"I'm fine. It feels like someone shoved my shoulder onto a grill and held it there, but I'm alright."
"It's just a grazing shot you big baby. Come on, lets go," Star Sabre spoke.
The small group made their way over the two downed guards and reached the large vault-like door they seemed to have been protecting. The large padlocked door stood taller than all of them, making some wonder just how large the Leviathan really was. The door appeared to be wielded shut, barring any access.
"I'm guessing this thing is too thick to blast open," Star Sabre muttered. "Why would they do this?"
Luna did not seem discouraged. "It is clear they do not wish for anypony to enter this chamber, but surely there must be a way."
The midnight blue alicorn trotted up to the door and studied it carefully. She rose a hoof and tapped the metal casing of the entrance way, then put an ear to it. She then turned around with a most puzzled expression about her face.
Luna furrowed her brow. "This is not a door."
"Come again?"
"I heard nothing to imply that there is empty space beyond it. In fact, it sounded like it was simply a metal wall. I believe this was meant to fool anypony who wouldn't know."
Lime Tree looked a bit confused. "So why were those guards standing here?"
"It is very likely that the real entrance is here somewhere, just not where we expect it to be."
Star Sabre seemed peeved by this. "Why did it have to be a riddle? Why can't things be direct?!" He stomped a hoof on the metallic floor. A dull creaking sound echoed around the room.
"Well what about that, Luna? That sounded pretty hollow to me," Mace spoke.
"I believe we have found our entrance," The Night Princess answered.
"That panel. Is there any way to lift it?" Lime Tree questioned.
"What about these?" a human pointed to a stack of long rake like objects.. "These were lying in the store room back there. I'm guessing this is why." The ponies and humans began to lodge the pry bars into the floor panel.
"Ready, heave!" Steven and the others began to tug on the floor panel.
The panel didn't budge.
"Okay. Again!" The soldiers put their backs into it.
The panel creaked, but didn't give way.
"Alright, everyone together!" All of the soldiers combined their efforts and pulled as one.
The rusted panel began to shudder, and slowly began to rise. After they'd managed to lift it a few inches, the soldiers moved it off to the side, revealing a deep black abyss.
Mace shined a flash light into the hole, revealing that it was, in fact, not bottomless, but the floor was just a few yards down.
"Great. More tunnels," the green stallion muttered. As he moved toward the tunnel, the earth pony stumbled and fell head first into the hole.
"Yaaaahhhhh!"
Thud.
"Lime Tree!" Star Sabre called down. "LIME TREE!"
The sound of somepony popping his back echoed up the tunnel.
"Relax. I'm fine, but that drop is a bit deceptive, and there apparently isn't a ladder. You guys coming or what?"
Steven and Star Sabre exchanged worried looks, then climbed down the side of the hole, followed by Luna and the other soldiers.
"Mind the jump," Lime Tree commented.
The soldiers dropped into the dark cave-like room, some more graceful than others. Any soldier with a flash light turned it on.
"It looks pretty empty in here," One of the soldiers commented.
"That is only because it is dark," Luna answered quietly.
"Well, duh!" Lime Tree added.
Even in the darkness, Lime Tree could tell Luna was giving him a cold hard stare.
"Sorry!" The stallion gasped.
The sound of clanking chains echoed through the room, followed by a guttural scream. The members of the small group exchanged panicked expressions, unwilling to speak.
"You have taken everything from me! What more could you possibly want!" The voice screamed.
"Sister?"
"When will your thirst for revenge be quenched?! If you have come to get me to beg, I will not give you the pleasure!"
Mace shined the flashlight toward the sound to the voice. In the spot light lied an enraged, shadowy form. The creature violently jerked its head away, blinded by the sudden light. There was a visible fire in its violet eyes which seemed to melt away the streaks of dried tears on its beaten face.
"Princess?"
"Why can't you leave me to wallow in my own mistakes? Surely even your sadistic appetite must be fulfilled!"
"PRINCESS!"
"Go! Leave me be!"
"CELESTIA!"
The yelling stopped.
"W-what? Who is there? Mother? Father? Is that you?" came a much calmer, vulnerable voice.
The group ran up to the gray figure. The soldiers held up any source of light they had. Sure enough, they were gazing down at the crumpled form of an alabaster alicorn. Much like her sister, she wore no jewelry, not golden slippers, no crown or tiara. Her once statuesque horn had been violently reduced to a stump. The prismatic mane that once flowed in an unseen breeze, lay limp and disheveled. Her head and each of her legs had been chained to the floor by massive interlocking links. A strange seal had been branded into her cutie marks.
"Sister! It is I! We have come to rescue you!"
"NO! LEAVE NOW! I WILL NOT GO WITH YOU!"
"Princess, we need to get you out of here!" Star Sabre pleaded.
"Do not call me Princess! I am not fit to wear that title!"
"No need trying to reason with her! She is obviously unwell! Help me break her free!" Luna called out.
The soldiers began to break the links with whatever they had, until they reached the one restraining her head.
"This one won't break!" Star Sabre yelled.
"Shoot it off!" Steven answered.
"Shoot it? Are you flanking nuts!? The Princess's head is attached to it!"
Several thundering hoof and claw steps sounded out from above.
"Looks like we're out of time!" Mace raised his rifle, shoved it into the lock at point blank range, and fired.
Celestia screamed out as the round shattered the link, then shoved off the lock and jumped up to her hooves. She back-hoofed Steven away then turned and bucked Star Sabre into a wall. With a quick sweep of her hooves, Celestia sent several soldiers flying in all directions.
"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Luna grabbed hold of her sister and tried to keep her still.
"UNHOOF ME, WHELP!"
Celestia tossed her sister away like she was nothing. Star Sabre stumbled back onto his hooves and Mace pulled himself back up, still reeling from the Princess's strike.
"We've got to sedate her!" the chin sore marine spoke.
"How exactly do we do that?!" Star Sabre questioned.
Steven shoved Star Sabre toward the frenzied alicorn.
"Whoa! What you do that for?!" Sabre yelled as he ducked under a two hooved punch. When he turned to get an answer, Mace was nowhere to be seen. "Steve?"
Celestia pounced while Sabre's back was turned, shoving him into the ground. She rose a hoof and brought it down, denting the space on the floor where Sabre's head had just been. Star Sabre could see a bit of light through the hole.
"Someone get her off of me!" Sabre screamed.
Just as the delusional Day Princess prepared to drop another blow on the terrified pegasus, Celestia winced, and collapsed on top of him. Behind her, Steven stood with the butt of his rifle pointed forward.
"So first you nearly shoot her, then you hit her over the head with your gun? I think you need lessons on how to treat royalty." the relieved Corporal Star Star Sabre panted.
"I'll write her a really nice apology letter later, okay! So can we please get out of here before the entire Liberation Alliance army shows up?!"
Luna rose to her hooves. "I agree. Desperate times..."
"Call for desperate measures. Pick her up guys, we need to go!" Mace shouted.
"Will do!" The soldiers rushed over and lifted the unconscious Princess onto their backs. As they lifted her, a small, liquid filled bag dropped from the alicorn's back. The bag was attached to a small tube, which ended in a needle.
"Looks like an IV." one of the soldiers remarked.
"Who knows what they've been putting into her." another answered.
"Better yet, who knows what she thought she was seeing?" Lime Tree thought aloud.
Another soldier grunted under the strain of carrying the large pony. "She's a lot heavier than she looks." the soldier mumbled.
"What did you expect? She's all three pony types rolled into one!" Another answered.
"Come on! Move!" Mace yelled.
"How are we supposed to get her back up through the hole? There's no ladder, remember?" Lime Tree questioned, bringing a hoof to his back.
The group stopped.
"He's right." Mace admitted. "I'm not sure we could get her back up there!"
"If we can't go upward, then we go downward!" Star Sabre declared.
"What do you mean?" Mace inquired.
"When she punched the floor, I saw light through the hole!" the pegasus explained.
"I think I get what he's saying! I think we're on the lowest floor of this thing, and she just punched through the bottom of it!"
"Quick, blow open the hole!" Mace instructed.
A man and a pony pulled out their explosives of choice. An earth pony hoofed over the very last of his blast geodes, a human soldier pulled out a small chunk of C4 he'd been saving for a special occasion.
"If you're going to do this, you better do it quick! Those soldiers are getting closer!" Lime Tree warned.
The soldiers finished readying their explosives. "It's lit! Get back!"
The C4 detonated, starting a chain reaction with the blast geode, leaving a gaping hole in the floor of the chamber.
Below, the various plants, rocks and general features of the ground floor could be seen, slowly moving.
"There is our path!" Luna yelled.
"Jump for it!" Mace yelled.
The group leaped into the freshly cut out hole, just as Alliance soldiers began to jump into the chamber.
The ground stopped moving, as it was now the bulk of the massive Leviathan that moved overhead.
"Keep running! They're still behind us!"
The group ran out from under the enormous vehicle, carrying Celestia on their backs.
The humans and ponies took a look at their new surroundings. "Whoa! This isn't where we were when we jumped on! That thing is faster than it looks!"
They were now in the middle of a large hilly field.
"Onward!" Luna cried as the soldiers made a mad dash to put distance between the Leviathan and themselves. Enemy soldiers began to drop out of the lumbering giant and surged across the field in pursuit. The soldiers that weren't carrying Celestia began to fire their weapons in an effort to suppress the incoming enemies.
Mace tore out his radio. "This is Bravo to Tree House! We need extraction! Now!"
...."Tree House to Bravo-Insertion. We've got you covered.".....
Several helicopters rose overhead, including two helicopters that had dropped them off, the remaining Apache, and the Super Stallion. The gunners in the helicopters held the attacking incoming alliance troops at bay.
The helicopters landed right next to the fleeing group. The doors opened.
"All aboard!" Pinkie Pie cheered from the cabin of the Super Stallion. She waived for the group to bring the Princess to the large helicopter.
Lenard emerged and hopped down from the cabin. "When I got back to base I made sure they had plenty of back up waiting for you."
Mace doubled over in exhaustion. "I'm glad you- *pant* I'm glad you did!"
The soldiers hoisted a still unconscious Celestia into the Super Stallion. Luna and the others followed. The remaining soldiers scrambled into the other helicopters and gave the "all clear" signal.
The flying machines lifted into the sky, still being harassed by desperate last ditch fire from the Alliance troops.
The helicopters disappeared over the hilly horizon.
********************
Celestia opened her eyes.
She saw a mass of slowly swirling colors. There was a distant voice talking to her. Calling out to her.
"Sister! Can you hear me?"
Could it be? Luna? Was that Luna's voice?
"I think she's coming to."
That voice. The human... in the palace that day...
Celestia fluttered her eyes. The swirling colors began to settle into three faces, hovering over her. One was a dark midnight blue, another was violet, the last one was a light brown. The blue face seemed to be speaking to her.
"Celestia. Can you hear me?"
Celestia blinked away the distortion in her eyes. The sounds became less distant. Her vision cleared.
Celestia sat up.
"Oh Princess, I was so worried!" Spoke the unmistakeably bookish voice of Twilight Sparkle.
"Twilight. My student. What is happening? Where are we?" Celestia spoke as she got her bearings. Spike climbed up Twilight's back.
"We're gonna meet up with the other ponies that escaped." the little dragon spoke.
"Escaped?" the alicorn rose an eyebrow.
The room shook then lurched to one side. Celestia noticed the scenery outside of a window was moving.
"We are in a human flying machine, going someplace safe," the purple unicorn answered. "That's all that matters."
"Safe? From what? What do you mean Twilight?" The alabaster alicorn questioned.
"Safe from thy enemy," Luna spoke, putting a forceful stressing on the word "enemy."
Memories descended on the Sun Princess like an avalanche.
She remembered.
The soldiers marching into Canterlot.
The attack on the palace.
The prison.
Hurting Luna and her rescuers with her own hooves.
Celestia snapped back into the present. A human held a bottle of water up to her mouth, suggesting she drink it. She eagerly obliged.
"They said they had you under the influence of some kind of drug. I think It's wearing off now."
Celestia's memories revealed the name of this human.
"Captain Greene."
"It's good to see you alive, Princess," The Captain spoke. "You wouldn't believe what we went through to get to you."
Celestia turned her head to face Twilight and Spike. Behind them sat the other Element bearers.
"Are you all alright?" the Princess worriingly wondered.
"Ponyville is lost." Twilight answered, tearing up at the thought of her wrecked library home.
"So is Cloudsdale." Rainbow Dash added, trying to bravely hold back tears of her own.
"The boutique is ruined!" Rarity cried. "This truly is the worst day of my life!" she sobbed madly.
"Sweet Apple Acres...." Applejack mumbled. "Mah home..."
Pinkie Pie lowered her head. Her mane drooped like a fire doused with a bucket of water. She perked up, trying her best to dwell on the positives. "We saved as much as we could..."
Fluttershy was beside herself in grief. "All those animals," She whimpered. "Why is all of this happening Princess? Why are all these creatures attacking us?" Fluttershy questioned, her eyes filled with a mixture of despairing tears and a subtle anger.
Celestia lowered her head. "Twilight, I am glad you and your friends are here. I am glad all of you are here." she turned to her sister. "Luna. We owe them an explanation. They deserve to know what happened all those many years ago."
"Art thou sure, Sister?"
Celestia gave a solemn nod. "Yes."
"Then we shall both tell the story," Luna spoke.
"What story?" Twilight inquired.
"The story of the darkest time in our history...." Luna answered.
"The story of... Celestia sighed.
"... the Great Equestrian Purge."