//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Emergency Exfiltration // Story: The Equestrian Odyssey - A Tale of Two Worlds // by Kamahido //------------------------------// Hammer leads the group over to a large shrub. Pushing it aside, she allows Rainbow Dash and Applejack to begin digging. Hitting wood, they push aside the last of the dirt to reveal a trap door. Opening it, the ponies hop inside and out of sight. Hammer brings up the rear as she lets go of the shrub and pulls the trap door back down. Meanwhile, Sereb pricks up his ears and turns to his partners. “The window has been smashed.” Auriel grimaces. “Are you certain?” Sereb nods. “I am.” Rose reaches into her pack and pulls out two black cloaks. “Good. Let us begin.” Pulling the cloaks over themselves and obscuring their eyes, Rose and Auriel step forward to confront the six whom stood guard in front of the Archives. Seeing figures approaching the commander of the group orders his troops to form up. Pointing their spears at the newcomers, he calls out to them. “This area is off limits for the night! Turn around and walk away now!” Auriel and Rose say nothing but continue walking forward. The slightly unnerved commander continues. “If… if you refuse to step away, we shall have no choice but to engage you! Turn back now!” As before, neither slows, speaks, or turns away. The guards take a step back as they see those whom approach are humanoid in form. Nervously they talk amongst themselves. “It… it can’t be!” “Hero of Light Arc?!” “But he’s DEAD!” “These must be some kind of clones then!” The commander takes another steps back as he calls out to his troops. “Prepare to engage!” As they approach, both women break into a dead run. Calling forth her L-Blade, Rose slashes at the guards before her, deftly cutting through all of their spears in a single motion. Auriel jumps over her and begins pounding the soldiers as Rose turns her attention to the commanding officer. Walking toward him as the sounds of the nearly frantic guards rings out, her eyes glow red as she approaches the visibly shaking officer. Coming within inches of his face, she modulates her voice to be much deeper before uttering a single word to the stallion before her. “Boo.” Screaming out in terror, the stallion’s eyes roll into the back of his head as he collapses to the floor. Rose steps over him as a small stream of yellow liquid oozes away from him. She makes her way over to Auriel who is surrounded by the unconscious forms of the other guards. Looking around a moment she turns to the demoness. “Did they give you any trouble?” Auriel shakes her head. “No. But it would appear they believed either you or I were Arc, which gave us the advantage.” Sereb hurries over to the pair. “You must find the files at once! I will guard your backs!” Rose nods as she turns to Auriel. “This way, father!” Auriel sighs. “Right behind you, Rose!” Sereb begins tossing the unconscious guards into a nearby break room with his magic as Auriel and Rose start searching the cabinets for the files. A few minutes later Auriel cries out. “I have the notes!” Rose grins. “Good. Now we need the blueprints. They should be in a separate room for secure viewing and storage.” She looks around for a few moments before pointing to a door. “That has to be it.” Auriel runs over and tries the door. “Locked.” Rose giggles. “Not to worry. I have the key.” Auriel steps aside as Rose approaches. Grabbing the doorknob she slams her shoulder into the steel door literally ripping it from its hinges and partially dislodging the doorframe from the solid concrete wall. Pushing past the demolished door they enter the room together. Auriel calls out. “Those long flat drawers hold blueprints!” “A good place to start.” A few minutes later Sereb hears the sound of hooffalls approaching. Turning, he runs into the room and calls out. “We’re about to have company!” Auriel groans. “Great! We’ve only found the prototype engine’s blueprints!” Rose looks to the wolf. “You have to slow them down while we look for the O.R.B. blueprints, Sereb.” “I will do my best!” Hurrying back to the corridor Sereb sees a large and small shadow running toward him. Looking around for inspiration, he spots the windows on one side of the corridor. Casting a Telekinesis Spell he smashes them, forcing the pair to slow down to avoid slipping on the broken glass that now lies all over the marble floor. Pulling down several statues and adding their fragments to the mess, Sereb begins pulling down overhead chandeliers to cause more mayhem. Still the pair come at him. Stepping out into the corridor Sereb roars loudly, causing the duo to momentarily stop. Decimus gasps and points a hoof. “It IS the Hero of Light doing all this! There’s his mount!” Scootaloo looks around. “Then where is he?!” “In the Archives! Look, he left his beast to stand guard!” “Can we get past him?!” Decimus grits his teeth. “We HAVE to!” Focusing his magic, Sereb slams Decimus to the floor with a Telekinesis Spell. Seeing this, Scootaloo drops as well. The stallion looks to her. “Can you… get him?” Scootaloo shakes her head. “He’s too powerful!” Decimus strains to talk. “Not to… worry. That much… magical energy can’t… be focused… for too long. Just… wait it out.” Sereb growls as he muses to himself. “He’s right. I hope Rose and Auriel hurry.” Thirty seconds later Rose runs out of the room and over to the doorway Sereb is standing in. “We have it!” Sereb strains to maintain the spell. “Did Auriel take the secret passage out of here?” Rose nods. “Yes. She took the plans and notes. We need to get moving now.” “Not a moment too soon.” Ceasing his spell, Sereb allows Rose to mount him. Decimus quickly gets up and gasps in horror as he spots a figure in Sereb’s saddle. “He IS alive!” Scootaloo chuckles inwardly. “Impossible!” “Let’s get him!” Sereb runs the opposite direction down another corridor as a platoon runs to Decimus’ side and helps clear the debris from in front of him. “Don’t just stand here helping me! Go after them!” “We can’t, sir.” Decimus frowns. “Why not?!” “Orders from Princess Celestia, sir. We’ve received reports that Princess Twilight was attacked in her room a short time ago. You’re needed there.” Decimus growls and calls out down the hallway. “YOU WIN THIS ROUND, HUMAN!” Turning, he and Scootaloo run toward Twilight’s room. Entering the royal accommodations, the pair hurry to Twilight’s side as the two guards from outside unsuccessfully attempt to untie her. Drawing his blade Decimus cuts through her bonds easily and helps her up. “What happened, Princess Twilight?!” Twilight grimaces. “I… was feeling a bit under the weather, so I sent for a couple nurses to look me over. A few moments after they began attending to me, a human burst through the door and attacked me!” Scootaloo looks her up and down. “Are you hurt, princess?!” Twilight shakes her head and touches her horn. “No. He just tied me up after putting something on my horn. I tried to Blink away, but couldn’t!” Decimus looks at the ring on her horn before carefully lifting it off with a hoof. Twilight puts a hoof to her belly as he does so. Looking the object over, he frowns. “This is a magic nullifier. It, for all intents and purposes, turns off a unicorn’s magic when placed on the horn.” He looks it over for a moment before turning to Twilight. “However, one such as this doesn’t typically work on alicorns.” Scootaloo clears her throat before speaking. “No disrespect intended, but Princess Twilight only recently became an alicorn. She probably just hasn’t had the centuries of learning and practice her teacher has.” “Perhaps that’s it. In any case, I would still like to know what exactly he’s hoping to accomplish here. Please continue, princess.” “For a moment I thought for sure he was going to kidnap me. But for whatever reason he suddenly jumped through my balcony window and down to the path below.” Scootaloo frowns as she looks out the door. “I don’t get it. Why go through all the trouble of tying her up and nullifying her magic then, sir?” Decimus grimaces. “It can only mean one thing.” Twilight appears confused. “What’s that?” “This was merely a diversion to take our attention from his real target!” Scootaloo looks over her shoulder at the corridor. “I would have thought it would have been the airship.” “Indeed. Simply destroying parts of the ship wouldn’t have stopped us from rebuilding it.” “Perhaps that wasn’t his goal at all.” Twilight turns to her. “Scarlet Filly?” “Could it be possible that he did INTEND to blow up the entire ship?” Decimus raises an eyebrow. “Are you suggesting he ran out of time?” “Or perhaps his explosives failed.” Twilight grimaces. “Or were delayed to cause a secondary diversion. We’d be left chasing our tails while he escaped.” Decimus nods. “That we would be. But I can’t think of what other target he might have here.” Scootaloo frowns. “What about Princess Celestia?!” Twilight gasps. “He could want revenge on her!” Decimus shakes his head. “I don’t think so. Had that been the plan, he wouldn’t have maneuvered us to your room, Princess Twilight. After all Princess Celestia’s quarters are only a hooffull of meters away.” He looks around before continuing. “In any case, where did the nurses go?” Twilight raises an eyebrow. “Nurses?” Decimus nods. “The ones whom were tending to you when you were attacked.” “Oh! I ordered them to return to the Infirmary and rest. They were quite shaken after this whole ordeal.” “Do you remember their names?” Twilight shakes her head. “Sadly, no. They were only here a minute at most before the attack. After that, things are a blur. Tell me, is Princess Celestia all right?” Decimus gestures to the door. “Yes, she has innumerable guards outside her quarters as we speak. Trust me when I say that nothing more will be happening tonight.” Scootaloo nods as she smirks. Calling out to Arc, she gives him the news. “You’re all set to do your part, Big Brother.” Arc smirks. “Did everyone get away safely?” “From what I could tell, yes. With any luck, everyone not in your group should be back aboard The Equinox by now.” “I’ll try to be quick on this end then.” Sighing, he turns to his squad. “Did you guys reconnoiter the dungeon and surrounding hallways?” Max nods. “Yes sir, we did that after returning to the ship with our ‘guests’. But the news isn’t good.” Hugh sighs. “There’s quite a few guards on duty down there right now.” Arc raises an eyebrow. “Why so many? I mean, the couple times I was down there it was just a few.” Viktor frowns. “They assign more at night, as that’s usually when there’s trouble.” Xenos shrugs. “Statistically, yeah. Under the cover of darkness… that sort of thing.” Max grins. “Right. However we do have one advantage. If someone guards the stairs up, they won’t be able to run for help.” Hugh motions down the corridor. “The dungeon only has one way in. It’s supposed to make it more defendable and easily secured.” Viktor chuckles. “But this time it’ll be different.” Arc looks to Max. “Good. Now that only leaves the matter of whom will guard the stairs. And I know exactly who’s going to do it.” “Who, sir?” “Me.” Xenos raises an eyebrow. “That’s actually pretty surprising, sir. Forgive me, but you usually like to be leading the charge.” “Well this time I’m going to leave it to you guys. But not for lack of motivation. If anything, I want to stay under wraps for the time being.” Hugh: Sir? Arc: Remember, no one has actually seen me show my face here tonight. It’ll help freak out the guards and hopefully Decimus if they don’t have absolute confirmation that I’m behind this. Viktor grins. “It’ll be like he’s swinging at shadows.” Max nods. “Or ghosts.” Xenos laughs. “The thought of either should be enough to keep them awake at night, sir.” “Exactly. While it won’t really give us any clear advantages, I still want to mess with Decimus.” Max nods. “We understand, sir. Shall we be off?” “Yes. Let’s get down there and get this final act underway. I’ll stay at the top and knock down anyone whom gets past you guys.” Xenos grins. “On it, sir!” They walk down the stairs as Arc takes his position at the top. For a few moments nothing happens. Then all at once the sound of battle erupts. It lasts for only a few minutes before dying down altogether. Max’s voice echoes up the stairs. “Area secure, sir.” Descending the stairs, Arc looks around. Numerous guards lie on the floor unconscious. The squad is busy putting them in cells as Arc nods approvingly. “Very good. Now then which cells are my friends in?” Max walks over to the record book. “They’re supposed to be in the highest security cell at the end of that corridor, sir. Here’s the key.” He tosses Arc a ring with a few keys on it. “Thanks. I’ll go get them. You guys hold this area.” Xenos nods. “Yes sir. We’ll be waiting.” Walking down the stone corridor Arc approaches the heavy steel door. Opening it, he is immediately hit with the stench of blood, bile, and urine. “Ugh! What the…?” Quickly casting a Light Spell, he looks around the large room. It is filled with various torture devices. Gritting his teeth Arc enters and begins inspecting the machines. Several of them are covered in blood, fur, and pieces of meat. Passing a rack and turning a corner he spies a terrible sight. “Oh… my…!” Both Steel Hammer and Silver Hammer are strapped to a single table, one on top of another. A large press overhead sandwiches them together. Gasping, Arc runs over to it and releases the pressure. Pulling Silver Hammer off of her husband, he lays the mare on the ground and touches her neck. “A weak pulse. At least it’s something.” Turning back to Steel Hammer he does the same. “Both alive, but barely. I need to get them out of here.” Arc yells for Xenos. The sound of hooffalls echoes as he approaches. “You need…?!” He gasps as he sees the state of the pair before him. Arc motions for him to approach. Laying Steel Hammer on Xeno’s back he turns to carefully pick up Silver Hammer before hurrying back to the main room with Xenos. “We’ve gotta get out of here!” Xenos nods soberly. “Right! These two need help now!” Hugh looks to him. “Portal to the ship, sir?!” Max shakes his head. “The dungeon is magically warded! We need to get away from it!” Viktor looks around. “How far?!” Arc grits his teeth. “Doesn’t matter! We’ll make it!” Rushing across the room, Arc hurries up the stairs with his squad. Max, Viktor, and Hugh pass them and run ahead. They make quick work of anyone whom gets in their way as they run down the corridor. Arc tries again and again to open a portal as they do so. Eventually succeeding, they return to The Equinox and hurry to the Infirmary. Laying the pair on cots, one of the squad hurries to fetch Nurse Redheart. Running out of her office she looks at the pair before her in horror for a few moments before getting to work checking their vitals and looking to Arc. “What happened?!” “I found them like this in the castle dungeon. They were in a torture device when I arrived.” “Describe it to me!” “Well, it was a large horizontal table with mounting for two sets of straps. They were fastened to the table facing one another with a massive weight over a large plate on top that was nearly crushing the life out of them.” Redheart grimaces. “I’ll take have to take x-rays of their chests, of course. But it looks like they have some serious trauma. Recommend getting them to a full hospital as soon as possible, sir.” Viktor looks to Arc. “But the princess is expecting us to do this study. If we leave now it could blow our cover.” “Irrelevant! We’ll head out now!” Running out of the Infirmary, Arc hurries to the Bridge. Entering, he looks over to the comms station. “Is everyone aboard, Lemon Hearts?!” “With the exception of the Scarlet Filly, yes.” Gritting his teeth, Arc reaches out to the filly. “Where are you?!” “With Decimus still. Take a look.” Arc looks through her eyes and sees them patrolling the corridors along with innumerable guards. “It looks like we’re heading to the Hanger. You and the others should get going.” “We have a medical emergency here. Redheart says her patients need a real hospital right away. Can you get away from Decimus?” Scootaloo groans. “Not without blowing my cover, no.” Arc sighs. “Great.” “Just go. I’ll catch up.” “Actually, can you do something else for me?” “What is it?” Arc and Scootaloo converse for a few more minutes before Arc breaks the link and turns back to Lemon Hearts. “She’s staying here. But we’re leaving.” Tight Ship raises an eyebrow. “Sir?” “We have injured in the Infirmary. They need more care than Redheart can give.” Wrangler frowns. “Then I guess we’ll have to fly em to safety.” Soarin nods. “Right. Lemon Hearts, radio for clearance to leave Canterlot airspace.” “Yes sir.” She does as she is told. A few moments later a grim look crosser her face as she turns to Arc. “Their refusing to give clearance at the moment, sir.” Moon Dancer gasps. “Why?!” Lemon Hearts sighs. “Because the castle is still under lockdown. Nopony is allowed in or out of the hanger until the all clear is given.” Wrangler groans. “And they won’t do that until the guards find the infiltrators.” Arc crosses his arms over his chest. “Understood. Thunderlane, prepare the engines for immediate takeoff.” “S-sir?!” “You heard me.” “Aye sir.” Soarin hurries over to him. “But sir, the blast doors are still closed because of the lockdown!” “Wrangler, charge weapons and prepare to fire.” Wrangler gasps. “Inside the castle?!” “You have a better idea of how we’re getting out of here?” Moon Dancer looks over. “Perhaps if we contact the command center and explain the situation to them, they might be convinced to…” Arc shakes his head. “…come and retrieve the prisoners that I’ve forcefully taken from the dungeon.” Soarin takes a step back nervously. “Sir? What… exactly were you doing here?” “My duty as the Hero of Light. Now I’ll explain everything in time. But first we need to get out of here.” The crew looks to Tight Ship for guidance. He looks to Arc evenly for a few moments before responding. “Princess Cadance would not have sent you here without knowing the full story herself. I’ve always trusted the princesses in the past and will continue to do so now. Carry out the orders, everypony.” The engines begin their startup process as the weapon systems come online. Thunderlane turns to the captain. “How much of the startup checks should we skip, sir.” “Everything we can. Get us airborne as soon as possible.” Lemon Hearts grimaces. “And our clearance, sir?” Soarin turns to her. “Hold off on that until the last minute.” Moon Dancer frowns. “This is rather dangerous, sir. Both to us and anypony down there.” Wrangler chuckles. “It’s the middle of the night. Nopony is working in here right now.” Arc smiles. “Good.” Looking out the window, Arc spots Decimus running into the Hanger with Scootaloo and a contingent of guards. Thunderlane grins. “We’re ready for takeoff, sir!” Soarin calls out to Lemon Hearts. “Tell the command center that we’re taking off now.” “Aye, sir. But they won’t be happy about it.” Arc shrugs. “Can’t be helped. Wrangler, are the weapons ready?” “Aye, sir. But are you absolutely sure you want to do this? I mean… attacking Canterlot Castle is a bit much, even for the Hero of Light.” “Lives are at stake here. Fire.” Nodding, she presses a button on her console. A cannon fires a shot, damaging the door. She continues firing, but the door does not move. Arc heads over to the Tactical Station. “Power up the O.R.B., Wrangler. We need to get moving.” “Aye, sir.” Putting his hands on the spheres, Arc charges the system for several moments before turning to Wrangler. “Activate the O.R.B. system and focus all power on the forward shields! Thunderlane, take off at full speed and ram that door!” Thunderlane grips his controls as sweat forms on his forehead. “Yes, sir.” The ship lifts off and charges forward. A blast from the engines knocks Decimus and Scootaloo down as well as the Royal Guards. Slamming into the blast doors The Equinox rips through them taking a large chunk of the wall with it before gaining altitude and flying north. Decimus gets up and watches as the ship vanishes into the darkness. He shakes his head, clearly enraged. “Arc. It has to be you. It HAS to be!” Scootaloo steps forward. “Can we pursue them in another ship?” Decimus shakes his head and sighs. “No. They heavily damaged the new ship. And now we know why.” “Let me guess. It was the only one capable of catching up?” Decimus nods as he continues. “He knew exactly how and where to hit us before getting clean away.” Turning, Decimus walks toward the corridor. “Continue your own hunt, Scarlet Filly. I have to analyze his attack and find out exactly what he did here tonight.” “What are you hoping to find?” Decimus stops but does not turn around. “Answers.”