//------------------------------// // Formidable // Story: Scaled and Icy // by Dashie04 //------------------------------// Good day, Lema! The radio was currently on, me and Wingless had been sitting in the cell, becoming more and more bored. She’d tried very hard, and she’d finally gotten through one layer of security after I suggested trying to find something like a staff website, and had found a sign-in for the servers, a passcode she was trying to brute-force. I was lying down and really just taking a rest. “So his name really is Optical Illusion, huh?” I nodded. It also requested a name, something that I thankfully knew. The radio was background static, and I personally wondered if some ponies killed themselves in here because there wasn’t anything entertaining on. They just repeated the same thing over and over again, something about attacking Trench and having the rebels “go down,” as it was put. “Is it just me or does it seem like Lema is scared of Trench? It’s not like they’re trained or anything. We’re so far behind in tech it’s not even funny. Yet, they seem to be restating how much of a fight we’ll put up every hour. Unless they found shotguns or something...” I was interrupted by an excited Wingless shouting, “Got it!” “Really?” I exclaimed in disbelief. “What was it?” “1234,” Wingless replied. “Excuse me, I thought you just said 1234?” “That’s because it is 1234, Prancey.” “Ocin’s passcode to keep the Lema servers under Lema control is 1234.” “I don’t know how many times I have to say it, it is.” “Luna kill me,” I groaned, sinking deeper into the rock-hard floor. “Don’t say that, they might take it literally,” Wingless stated. “I suppose you’re right, so what happened?” “Well,” Wingless started, “There’s this button on here that seems to allow me to control the radio. I can record my own lines and put them up for everypony in Lema and the surrounding nothing to hear. The radio seems to be prerecorded.” “That’d make sense, but then how do they know that Trench is coming for them?” I asked. “Well, either they sell your information, or they knew that if they captured you, some idiot stand-in leader for Trench would come rushing to your aid. My assumption is probably the latter.” “Oh, Luna,” I murmur. “What?” Wingless inquired. “I know a pony who’d do exactly that, I swear if she’s coming for me—“ “Who would that be?” “Pebble,” I reply. “Who’s she?” Wingless continued prying. “She’s a young one, she joined after you got captured. Basically, she seems to have a weird attachment to me, and always seems to seek me out. She’s also excitable enough to have stepped up for leader, and also excitable enough to grate on pretty much every other pony in Trench. She’d run after me if it killed her or not.” Wingless broke out laughing as I was explaining who Pebble was. “I thought that running Trench made you a smarter pony, but you’e still as dense as ever!” “What do you mean?” I asked, standing up. “She’s in love with you, obviously!” “Oh Luna, we’re bucked.” I couldn’t believe it, we’d actually gotten everypony equipped and were now flying towards Lema about a hundred strong! I mean, it wasn’t much, but we all had shotguns, so we were probably good. After Cold Fire managed to be his usual smart self and reverse engineer the shotguns to manufacture them for us, everypony was given a crash course in how to use them by Solarius. Kinda. There were a few ponies who couldn’t use them due to wing problems, the shotguns being designed for batponies, so they all got bayonets instead! Ahead of us was a beautiful domed city with skyscrapers and a massive building in the middle. There seemed to be 9 city divisions around the center building, with the center building obviously being its own. They were coordinated by color, and it created a beautiful rainbow of a city. “It looks so cool!” I said. “Remember, Pebble, we’re attacking this city and every pony in here is brainwashed and serves Lema.” Oh yeah, and Solarius was there, too. “Solarius, I know that! I can appreciate the city’s look without loving everypony in it!” Solarius doubtfully nodded. Ignoring him, I flew around to look for a way in. There seemed to be a guard posted on all nine divisions. I decided to fly down to one in front of the grey one. “Hello there!” I said. “State your business visiting Lema,” the guard said. I opened my mouth to speak, but Solarius butted in before I could say anything. “We were going to deliver these shotguns to the Nine bishops for future endeavors,” he said. “Wait a minute,” the guard replied. “I recognize you! You’re the military personnel that ran away from Lema while we were on a mission!” The guard then did a weird whistle thing, didn’t understand it, but the next thing I knew, all 9 guards were after us certainly with more on the way. Solarius then stepped back and addressed our army. “Everypony, line up! Bayonets in front, new shotguns behind them, old shotguns in the back! We’re going to get these ponies! Pebble and I can lead!” Solarius then addressed me by myself. “Pebble, you got your rifle?” I nodded. “You’re going have to explain this more later.” Solarius nodded without any shade of doubt for once, and me and him charged. “FIRE!!” Solarius shouted. The ponies shot, and a couple got hit by the crossfire, but the guards got hit, too. “Pebble, you’re agile!” Solarius shouted. “Get in and get Prancey!” After a few moments, he came back with a new shotgun that he probably took from on of the ponies that got shot. “Give him this!” he said, throwing it at me. “Me and Trench will hold these guys off, get him!” Without questioning it, I ducked inside the dome and made a beline for the center building. I was going to save Prancey, and then I could finally have him back. Attention! The rebels are attacking! They have an old Lema military commander with them! Prepare for the worst! We’re ready and willing to take them on.