Hunter received a call from Twilight on Sunday afternoon to let him know that the LRAD was ready. He asked her to head over to his apartment, sending out messages to the others to do the same; the girls arrived in staggered succession with Fluttershy and Pinkie showing up last at around four o’clock.
“Sorry we took so long.” Fluttershy apologized.
“Don’t worry about it.” Hunter brushed it off. “We can’t move until nightfall anyhow.” He left Sunset’s side on the couch and headed for his room. “Be right back.”
“Are you all ready for this?” Sunset asked around.
“Definitely.” Pinkie pumped her fist.
“Yeah, saving the city is like our hobby now.” Rainbow Dash said with confidence.
“Glad to hear.” Hunter returned with suitcases. “But this is going to be a lot hairier than when we fought the álííl ayą́. It isn’t just our asses on the line, we’ve got innocent civilians to extract and our opponents are a far more dangerous than a wild animal.” He spread the luggage out on the floor. “Your outfits are in here, labeled and fitted to our seamstress' specs. Change in the bedroom and then I’ll show you your gear.” The girls began extracting their clothes and heading into the bedroom.
“No weird spy cameras or anything in there, right?” Applejack asked suspiciously.
“Of course not.” Hunter assured.
Applejack immediately turned to Sunset. “No weird spy cameras or anything in there, right?” She asked again.
“No, believe me I already checked.” Sunset promised as they walked.
“You know, four or five more insinuations like that and I’m going to start taking it personally.” Hunter called after them.
In about twenty minutes they returned wearing matching, black and navy blue suburban camouflage outfits. They each had hard knuckle tactical gloves, belts with clip on storage pouches, additional padding on the knees and elbows as well as protection level III-A ballistic vests.
“Ok, we look cool.” Rainbow Dash smiled.
“I’m having a little trouble moving.” Twilight worked her arms in an attempt to loosen up the material.
“They’re fresh out of the box, darling.” Rarity noted. “Just give it some time to stretch out.”
Hunter looked them over approvingly. “You could be centerfolds for Guns & Ammo.”
“Thanks, I think.” Sunset sat beside him again.
“So, what else do we get?” Pinkie asked excitedly.
“First of all.” Hunter picked up a box he had on the floor. “Here is your siren protection.” He removed the lid revealing eight headsets with inner ear speakers. “This is lovingly known as the conference call. It’s a blue tooth communication device with noise canceling ear pieces." He displayed a button on the righthand side. "Just hold down this button to activate the microphone. They operate on the same channel so the only thing we’re going to hear in the field is each other.”
“So we’ll basically be deaf?” Fluttershy asked.
“It’s a risk we have to take.” Hunter detailed. “It’ll be freaky at first, but rely on each other to call out anything in each others’ blind spots. Plus, each team will be able to keep the others updated on their situations so we can make calls on the fly if we have to.” He reached behind the couch and pulled up a metal briefcase. Setting it on the table, he opened it up to reveal a pair of batons.
“What are those?” Rainbow Dash leaned in.
“These are SWAT grade stun batons.” He explained. “You and AJ are going to take these.”
“Hoo boy.” Applejack carefully lifted one of the weapons. “Just how powerful are they?”
“Enough.” Hunter answered simply. “If you two are going to enter the building, you’ll need these to drop any of the controlled workers who try to stop you.” He hopped up from the couch and went into the kitchen, coming back with a map he had printed out. “Okay, here is an aerial map of the building I printed off the net.” He set it down on the small accent table; the girls got closer to observe as Hunter traced his fingers around the image. “Our plan is simple enough; they don’t know we're coming so we have the full element of surprise. Our entrance point is going to be the north side of the rear parking lot. My team will cause the initial stir, we need to draw Melodiam and Cobalt out of the building before anything else. Once we have their attention, they’ll engage and most likely use the hostages as weapons. At that point, Sunny’s team will flank and start disabling the hostages while we draw Cobalt in the opposite direction. In the chaos, RD and AJ will move in through this side entrance and start working their way up to the roof. Once you're on the roof, bring that tower down by any means necessary. Twi will head inside sometime after you and start freeing the remaining hostages while Fluttershy begins extracting the first round to this area across the street.” He then pointed to the eastern side of the building. “There is an old fire escape on this side of the building, use it to extract the remaining hostages and rendezvous with Fluttershy. Once all the hostages are safe, call the police and give them your location and a message that there is a fire at that address.”
“A fire?” Sunset repeated.
“Yeah, once the building is empty I’m going to torch it.” He detailed. “It’ll be controlled enough to not spread beyond the structure, just enough to get the fire department on the scene as well to help tend to the workers.”
“What about Melodiam and Cobalt?” Pinkie inquired.
“Well, that depends on them.” He said honestly. “If we can, we bring them down. There’s a good chance they’ll try to flee once they see they’ve lost control. Our top priorities are the tower and the hostages, taking them down is a luxury.” He checked their faces. “Everyone clear on what we’re doing?” The girls nodded in a round. “I know you all get into stuff like this a lot, but you’re really going above and beyond on this one.” He smiled.
“This is a bit more extreme.” Twilight concurred. “But I’m not scared as long as we face it together.”
“That’s right.” Sunset agreed. “The power and magic of our friendship can handle anything.”
“Don’t forget the power of high end, tactical gear.” Hunter reminded with a raised finger.
Sunset gave a conceding nod. “That too.” She said with a laugh.
With a plan in place, the eight of them headed out at nine o’clock using a mini-van that Hunter had rented under an assumed name. The gravity of what they were headed into was not lost on the girls as they noticed that Hunter had gone into full soldier mode. Hunter’s seriousness was not simply because of the job before them, but because that outside of Sunset he was leading a strike team of teenage girls into a military style operation. The weight of that was far from unclear and despite knowing how strong and capable they truly were, this was undoubtedly outside their wheelhouse. He cleared his mind of those thoughts as they came to stop up the street from the building; they piled out of the van and stood side by side on the empty street.
“Hey, before we do this…” Hunter began.
“We know.” Sunset took his hand with a sure smile.
“Yeah, don’t worry about us.” Applejack nodded. “We know what to do and you can be sure we’ll get it done.”
Hunter sighed, actually happy that they were able to read his feelings so clearly. “Okay, headsets in place.” They each strapped on the equipment and set their microphones in place. “Everyone read?” He heard all seven of their voices give him an affirmative. “Let’s move in, stay tight until we’re in position.” Moving low and swiftly, they weaved between the buildings and headed into position on the north side of the chain link fence. Applejack uplifted one of the posts and opened a way through; hiding behind a pair of cars, they crouched in wait as Hunter readied his M4 carbine rifle. He observed the area, watching the movement of the mind controlled hostages; taking Pinkie and Rarity with him, the trio rounded the far side of the lot and moved into the open. Hunter fired into the upper level windows, shattering them in order to get their attention. The workers immediately ceased and idled in place, within minutes the rear doors opened and their enemies made their appearance.
“Who the hell are you!?” Cobalt barked.
Hunter couldn’t hear his words but his face told all, he smiled and waved back at them. “Hi!” He shouted. “You must be Cobalt and that almost lovely lady must be Melodiam!”
“He knows who we are.” Cobalt looked up at Melodiam. “Do you know them?”
“No, and I do not care to.” She stepped forward and began to sing, the trio merely stood as her notes fell on deaf ears.
“What was that!?” Hunter pointed to his earpiece. “I can’t hear you!”
“Their ears are guarded.” Melodiam pointed at them. “Cobalt, kill them.”
“Yes Ms. Melodiam.” Cobalt leapt forward and laid his hand on the ground, five golems bursting from beneath the asphalt paving. “Destroy them!” He commanded.
Hunter walked forward as the livng soil marched at him, he fired two rounds into one of their heads and the explosive ammunition blew its head clean off; the body staggered and another pair of rounds to its legs sent it crumbling. “Let’s go, pull them south.” He ordered.
“On it.” Pinkie hurried up to his side, taking a handful of confetti and giving it a magical charge; hurling it into one of the golem’s torsos blasted it into chunks.
“They have magic as well?” Melodiam muttered to herself.
Cobalt kept two golems in front of him as a shield, summoning more and more as Pinkie and Hunter felled them. “You think your range is an advantage?” He raised his arm and his minions did the same. “Try this.” The raised arms of his golems narrowed and began firing rocks with intense speed.
“Rarity!” Hunter called as he and Pinkie recoiled from the pelting.
“Right!” Rarity stood at their backs and formed diamond shields before them, Hunter fired from behind the cover and kept downing as many of the creatures as he could.
“These are no ordinary humans.” Melodiam stepped into the lot and began to sing, the workers in the area gathered around her and she sent them to back up Cobalt.
“Team two, move in and engage the hostages!” Hunter called.
Sunset, Twilight and Fluttershy left their cover and charged at the controlled army. Twilight activated her LRAD and began waving it back and forth across the line of workers. The men and women paused, eyes beginning to water as they reached up and clutched their ears; they began to collapse in place and fall into the fetal position.
“What!?” Melodiam observed the new threat. “More of you!?”
“Ms. Melodiam!” Cobalt turned back.
“Focus on them!” She instructed. “I will handle these three!” Her hands contorted into scaled claws and she moved in on Twilight.
“Hunter, she's on us.” Sunset relayed.
“Okay.” Hunter acknowledged after another clip swap. “Team three, move in.”
“Right!” Rainbow Dash took Applejack’s arm and sped them into the building. Once inside, the workers that remained turned their attention towards them and began to advance. “Ready, AJ?” She asked, readying her baton.
“Yep.” Applejack did the same as they ran in and started battering the enslaved citizens.
Sunset sent Twilight to subdue the remaining humans on the field while she and Fluttershy held Melodiam’s attention. The siren charged and swiped at them, her nails shredding the cloth of their protective uniforms.
“I don’t know who you girls are.” Melodiam noted as she darted forward with inhuman speed. “But you’ll pay for this intrusion.” She grabbed Sunset by the collar and lifted her.
“Still can't hear you!” Sunset reeled back and punched her in the face, Melodiam’s head tilted to the side but slowly returned to face her. “Uh oh.”
“Let her go!” Fluttershy hurried in and wrapped her arms around Melodiam’s waist. While distracted, Sunset reached out and grabbed the siren’s face; her eyes went white as she used her magic to see into her mind.
“Ah!” Melodiam could feel the magic being used on her and hurled Sunset to the ground, the vest absorbing some of the impact. “What did you do to me!?”
“Back off!” Twilight returned and aimed her device at Melodiam, she clutched her ears at the intense sound and the girls were able to regroup.
“Thank you.” Fluttershy took her shoulder. “But you need to go inside and break the other hostages free.”
“Right.” Twilight back stepped and began running for the building.
“Fluttershy.” Sunset called and pointed back. “Those people are starting to come to, start moving them into position.”
“Will you be okay?” Fluttershy asked in worry.
“I’ll contact Hunter, just go and get them safety.”
“Right.” Fluttershy ran back towards the rousing workers and initiated the migration.
“Hunter?” Sunset called as Melodiam began to regain focus.
“Yeah, Sunny?” Hunter asked back over the sound of explosions.
“I could use some backup, I’m on my own against her.” She explained.
“Right, on its way.” Hunter acknowledged. “Pinkie, back up Sunset.” He ordered. “Rarity and I will handle this.”
“Okay.” Pinkie nodded and fell back, moving across the lot to aid Sunset.
“This is endless, Hunter.” Rarity noted as she formed a circle of diamonds around them, pushing several forward to interrupt the golems’ advance.
“We don’t need to win, just buy time.” He readied the 40mm under-barrel grenade launcher on his rifle. He fired into the midst of the creatures and blew most of them apart with a single shot, Cobalt was taken by surprise and fell backwards onto the ground.
Back inside, Rainbow Dash and Applejack ascended the building’s stairwells, sending every hostage they came across to the ground in a convulsing heap. They soon emerged on the roof and beheld the modified tower.
“Holy smokes.” Applejack looked it over.
“Take it apart, I’ll check the escape route.” Rainbow Dash sprinted over to the fire escape and began testing it for stability.
“Done and done.” Applejack approached the structure and cracked her knuckles; reaching down and taking a firm hold of the base, she activated her magic and began to tear it free from the roof. “Look out below!” She called over the channel as she tossed it over the face of the building and sent it crashing down into the front parking lot. She then started stomping on the modified power sources and electrical equipment that had been mounted to the roof, sparks flying up into the night sky.
Back on the ground, Melodiam paused her assault at the deafening crash. “No!” She looked up and saw the sparks. “The tower!”
Twilight exited onto the roof next, the freed workers groggily following behind her. “I’m here, are we ready to go?”
“Yep.” Rainbow Dash gave her a thumbs up. “Hunter, we’re moving the hostages down to ground level now.”
“Perfect.” Hunter praised. “You’ve got five minutes before I light the place up.”
“Okay.” Rainbow Dash looked over the group. “Okay, let’s move.” The three of them began moving the workers down to the parking lot and towards the rendezvous point.
Back on the ground, Hunter was getting low on ammo but Cobalt was nowhere near out of golems. Rarity was sweating bullets from the amount of constructs she was forming and moving about the battlefield; seeing that she was wearing out, Hunter fired his last grenade and cleared them an opening to run. Cobalt was stunned by the blast but began giving chase as soon as his eyes cleared.
“Cobalt!” Melodiam called to him as she hurried to his side.
“Ms. Melodiam, what’s wrong?” He asked.
“They’ve destroyed the tower and freed the humans from my control.” She hurriedly explained.
“What!? How!?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “This location is lost, we must go.”
“No, I can still stop them.” He refuted.
“No, I cannot risk losing you.” She held his cheeks. “You are too important.”
“Damn it!” He lowered his head. “Alright.” He called back his golems and they lifted Melodiam from the ground, fusing themselves into a legged chariot of sorts. Cobalt looked back at the building to see Hunter tossing some kind of incendiary into it, flames beginning to build up around the lower level windows. “Once I find out who you are, you’re all dead!” He growled, slowly following after her.
Within ten minutes, police and fire engine sirens began to echo over the empty district. Hunter and the girls rushed back to the van and left the location as quickly as possible.
“Is everyone okay?” Hunter asked over his shoulder as he drove.
“Pinkie’s arm is bleeding.” Fluttershy noted. "So is my side, but it isn't bad."
“She got me in the leg.” Sunset added.
“I'm okay.” Twilight informed.
"I imagine I'm going to have bruises from the rocks." Rarity rubbed her body.
“I feel you on that one." Hunter nodded. "Do any of you need medical treatment?"
"I'm working on that now." Fluttershy took Hunter's field bag and set herself to Pinkie's arm. "Nothing here looks like it'll need stiches."
“Yeah, I'm good.” Pinkie smiled. “The important thing is that we won!” She cheered.
“Heck yeah we did.” Rainbow Dash grinned. “You should have seen AJ and I, it was like being in an action movie!”
“Not to toot our own horn.” Applejack chuckled. “But those zombified workers didn’t stand a chance.”
“And my device worked perfectly.” Twilight beamed. “I mean, of course it did… but still.”
“Well, I’m exhausted.” Rarity sighed but smiled. “Still, that was rather exhilarating. Hunter and I made quite the team.”
“And Sunset and I were giving that siren a run for her money.” Pinkie punched the air.
“Please, stay still.” Fluttershy begged as she tried to tend her wound.
“I don’t know about all that.” Sunset said humbly. “But… I did punch her in the face.”
“You did?” Rainbow Dash laughed, slapping her shoulder. “Awesome.”
Hunter smiled as he listened to them recap everything in their adrenaline fueled state. A few injuries was just below the best he could have hoped for and for now he was happy to take the win, even though he knew the war wasn’t over yet.