Chapter 6
Blaze awoke by the sound of rustling leaves. He jumped up ready to strike. A little rabbit hopped through the cave entrance. *Sigh* Get ahold of yourself Blaze. It’s just a rabbit. Blaze’s joints were stiff. He hadn’t slept well and he was hungry. “Alright Blaze. I know you’re hungry, but you need to get back to the camp.” He said aloud to himself. He looked outside the entrance of the cave. There was no pony there. He slowly moved to the tree line. He was just about to fly off when he heard another sound from a nearby tree. That was no rabbit. It was way too heavy of a sound. He thought
He acted like he hadn’t heard anything. He kept walking. On three, I turn around and attack whoever is following me. 1, 2, 3. Blaze turned around and was ready to punch his target. His hoof was grabbed in midair. “And that’s how you greet someone trying to help you out?” Linus asked.
“Linus? How did you find me?” Blaze asked.
“Well you know, if you need a place to hide, your favorite cave as a foal may not be the best idea.” Linus replied. “I have a plan. Since we are so close to Camp ‘A’ how about a little surprise attack on our comrades over at the camp? I got your supplies in my pack.” Linus pulled his pack off of his back and placed it on the ground. When he unpacked it, he let Blaze get to work. He explained his plan of attack to Blaze while he worked. “So basically, once your bomb goes off, me and the rest of my squad will move in and take what we can. This is something we haven’t done in awhile. A hit and run. But this might just work. They got fresh supplies last night. We will get back at them, but first, we need supplies so we can heal our wounded and feed the soldiers.”
After about 30 minutes, Blaze’s bomb was done. “Once I get over the center of the camp, I will drop it. Once I let go, you have 15 seconds before it reaches the ground. After it detonates, you and your squad can take everything that is left standing.” Blaze reminded Linus. This bomb was going to be huge. He didn’t want any unintended casualties.
“Good luck Blaze.” Linus said with grin.
Blaze took off and reached his target altitude. He had a feeling that the Gorner was at the camp. If he was, Linus would have some difficulty getting supplies. But if the bomb killed the Gorner before Linus arrived, then it would be smooth stealing from there.
“Linus? I’m in position. Get your men ready. I’m dropping the bomb now.” Blaze spoke into his communicuff.
“I hear you Blaze. Just make sure the bomb does it’s job, and we’ll do ours.” Linus replied. Blaze rolled his eyes. Typical Linus.
He dropped the bomb. As soon as he let it go, he flew off in a different direction. He turned after about 10 seconds to watch the explosion. He waited a little longer, then a bright light, followed by a huge explosion that sent him shooting up. Not only was his wing injured, but now he was burned all over. He slowly glided down to earth. He was in bad shape, but it wouldn’t matter. The Leasath would be busy with the bomb’s damage to worry about an injured pony in the forest. “Linus. You saw the blast. Go kill whoever isn’t dead yet and take the supplies.” Blaze relayed into his communicuff.
Linus heard static coming from his cuff. He knew what Blaze was going to say. Whatever his bomb did, the blast destroyed the cuff. “All right boys. Let’s get those weapons and medical supplies.” Linus said to his squad. They ran as fast as they could to the camp. When they arrived, it was chaos. They ran in, killing all the soldiers in sight, whether they were burning or standing. They slaughtered without prejudice. Linus was in kill mode. He couldn’t be stopped.
“Ahh Linus. What a pleasant surprise. Where’s your friend? The one who dropped the bomb?” It was the Gorner.
“Who are you?!” Linus yelled.
“Why, I’m the one who brought them to your camp. I’m the one, who allowed your buddy to drop that bomb. I’m the one who is allowing this raid.” The Gorner calmly stated. “You guys are such dreamers. You believe you can win. You think you can take Queen Chrysalis’ throne. What idiots. It’s good that Celestia died that night. Just like your pathetic parents.” The Gorner said. He dodged the knives being thrown at him as if they were nothing. “Come on now! I know you are better than that! Now hit me!” Linus had entered the Jode Rage. When he entered this stage, he could kill an entire army in less than a minute, without a scratch. “Ahh yes. The Jode Rage. This is when it gets interesting.” The Gorner said with a wide smile.
Why is he so cocky?? Linus thought. He threw all his knives and throwing stars as fast as he could at the Gorner.
“Faster! I thought you were an assassin! Prove yourself!” The Gorner was toying with him.
“Enough!” Linus yelled, filled with rage. He grabbed a shaft and swung it around his head. He pressed a button, and the shaft turned into a katana.
The Gorner whistled in amusement. “Now that’s a toy.” The Gorner said with a smile.
Linus took a swing at the Gorner’s head with a yell. He dodged it easily and punched Linus in the gut. “Come one get your act together. I was promised a challenge if I was given the opportunity to kill you.” The Gorner said. “Maybe you need to go back to school and learn your skills again.” He said as he deflected a strike from the katana. He returned with a kick to Linus’ face.
Linus spat up blood. “Who are you? He asked, looking up at the pony standing over him.
“Why,” The Gorner said, pulling of their hood. “It’s me. Luna.” She said with a smile.
“Luna?” Linus asked, shocked and in disbelief at what he was seeing. It was Luna. “No. You can’t be her. She wouldn’t betray us. She’s loyal to the Aureolian’s cause!” Linus yelled. He couldn’t believe, he wouldn’t believe, that this was really Luna. He knew the real Luna. This wasn’t the real Luna. Luna was sweet. She was nice. Linus knew something was amiss. He got up, spat on the ground, and took another swing at Luna’s head. She dodged it easily.
“Hahahahaha! You are so pathetic! I see the hurt in your eyes. I also see how much you love her.” Luna said. What the... “Wait. Her? Why would you refer to yourself as her?” Linus asked.
“What do you mean? I didn’t say her.” Luna said, trying to retrace her steps.
“You are not Luna. You are just a changeling. A sad, lonely, changeling. The only thing you are is a retched, worthless piece of trash.” Linus said. He swung his sword as fast as he could, faster than he ever had before. The changeling started dodging his swings. He started changing his patterns. The changeling started having difficulty with the change in pace and patterns. “First my parents, then Celestia, then you attempt to kill Luna, and now you try to make me believe that Luna is the one who tried to kill me. I swear, as Celestia as my witness, I will kill you for everything Chrysalis has done!!” Linus screamed at the top of his lungs. He swung once, twice, he was able to make the changeling stagger and stall. With one giant swing, he cut straight through the changeling’s body.
Linus wiped the blood from his face. He spat on the bloodied carcass. “That’s for Luna.” he said as he walked away from the dead changeling. “Everypony! Gather what supplies you can. We gotta get the hell outta dodge and find Blaze. He may be in danger.”