"You know," Rockhoof grumbled, "for a town called Mobile, it's remarkably stationary. This town accepts and sends telephone calls, perhaps?"
"It's pronounced 'mo- beeel', according to my book," Stygian sighed, as he read the text. "I honestly thought we'd been over this, everybody."
"Do remember Rockhoof finds some stuff hard to pronounce due to his accent," Flash joked, snickering as he did so.
"Hey, are you making fun of my accent?"
"How is pointing out pronunciation challenges making fun of anything?" Flash retorted. "It's never bad to admit you have faults. I can be rather reckless, for one."
"Rather reckless?" Starswirl enquired. "From what I can remember, you were always the first to fly into combat."
"There's no point in having your tank at the back where he can't soak up fire, is there?" Flash pointed out.
"Indeed," said Stygian. "Offensive firepower should be positioned in such a way that it able to fire and yet is protected by considerable amounts of shielding. Otherwise, you have your military formation backwards."
"Don't forget decoy units," Meadowbrook pointed out. "Or, failin' that, healers."
Stygian looked at another page of his, and crossed something out. "'Randomly fly and/or run at the giant red creature and hope for the best'. Who thought that plan was a good idea?"
Mistmane spoke up. "We have only one day's travel left to our destination, so we need to get moving. We shall eat downstairs together for the last time, and then we shall be on our way."
"Good idea," Starswirl said. "After all, there is no guarantee we shall emerge from this unscathed, if an intact unit of such a sort."
"I'm certain we will," Flash said. "We've been in tougher spots before, haven't we?"
"True, but that's no excuse for recklessness," Rockhoof cautioned. "You be careful out there, everypony."
After a breakfast, which succeeded in indeed breaking their fast, it was time to get on their way, and this was conducted with confidence, yet worry, as this could be their last time travelling together. They began their journey by heading south across the lands, and then went to the right, followed by another left turn through the city. There was another left turn, and then Mistmane indicated they needed to stay left as another load of military vehicles rolled past the crew, presumably on their way to Maxwell. They passed under the Mobile river once more (which, as Rockhoof noted, was at least moving), took a slight right, and then joined another road. Taking a pair of left turns followed by a slight right, they then passed by the location where the USS Alabama had been yesterday, only for there to be one slight difference.
It was no longer there.
"Is the ship invisible, or has it moved?" Somnambula asked. "Given what we've seen, both are equally plausible."
"They probably moved it," Flash said. "Wouldn't want the Pony of Shadows controlling that, eh?"
After ducking under another road that faced them, they crossed over a river on a bridge, as roads are known to do given the challenges and difficulties inherent in building and maintaining causeways. This was soon followed by another river, arriving onto another road, and taking a right turn. They immediately followed this right turn with another right turn onto another road, and then found themselves on the go once more, passing through the wonderfully named towns of Atmore, Flomater (not to be confused with an anthropomorphic tow truck), and Escambia, before detouring off that route and finding themselves taking a slight left. They had to, as the road up ahead had a big sign. This big sign read; THIS ROAD FOR MILITARY TRAFFIC ONLY. PLEASE TAKE THE DETOUR TO THE LEFT. THANK YOU.
"How many military vehicles are there going about here that they have to designate entire roads for them?" Rockhoof wandered aloud.
"You've seen the roads the last few days," Flash pointed out. "These roads are jam packed with military traffic, which means lots of roads are in use for the military only." He finished his sentence as helicopters roared overhead, flying in tight formation of five across and three back, with engines thundering.
But they had no time to ponder any longer on this state of affairs, and onwards they went on their extremely long journey. They went through the towns of Castleberry and Evergreen before turning to turning left and turning left again. Passing by a nearby place called MacKenzie, they turned left and went through Georgiana (which was presumably lost as this was Alabama, not Georgia) and Greenville (which at the moment was Muddy Brownville based on all the rain), and Hope Hull (which had a rather crazy person outside, based on their waving arms). They changed from one road to another, and then turned left before turning onto a street, and then another. And they were there.
The guard at the entrance to Maxwell Air Force Base looked down. "The Pillars, I take it? The Base Commander is awaiting your arrival," he said. He opened the gate. "The gate sensor will scan you on the way through."
Through they went and into the base. Everywhere something was happening. There were Humvees sitting idle, with large numbers of technicians working on them, and on the other side helicopters were either dusting off or reloading. Set up on the centre courtyard were many, many tanks, the machines of Raider 2 amongst them, also being tended to by their crews.
But when they turned the next bend, their jaws dropped. Lined up in their barrack slots were their old units. First in the line were warriors of the Mighty Helm, their armour polished to perfection and glinting in the sunlight. Next to them was the entire 3rd Legion, freshly resupplied and equipped for duty. Next to them were the soldiers of the Hayseed Swamp Native Guard, their heavy muskets slung back across their backs ready for use. Following along the line, the next unit was an entire dojo of samurai, including the examples who had dueled with Mistmane. Following them were several war chariots of the Neighiptian Royal Legion, again polished and cleaned to perfection. Last, but not least, a formation of the finest wizards and sorcerers that Equestria had ever seen, amongst them Sunburst and Starswirl.
An officer sprinted over to them. "Your presence is requested in the briefing tent," he said. "Right this way, please."
The Pillars had no chance to object as they were led to a large building near the centre of the base. And in through the door they went, unsure of what they would find.