//------------------------------// // Chapter 26: The Siege of Manehattan // Story: Logic and Friendship. Roger! Roger! // by Anaylze //------------------------------// The march towards the capital building of Manehattan had been relatively easy once they got past that first wave of police ponies and blown through the abandoned chariots in the road. The army of Droid was nearing the capital building but there were several approaching shapes in the sky. As they got closer, OOM-340 was able to identify their shapes, and it was just as he feared: Pegasi, several of them with blue and yellow flight uniforms, and others carrying storm clouds.  "Up there!" He yelled to his B1 brethren who also looked up  "What's that?" A B1 asked  "Ponies you idiot!" Another replied  "Oh. I think their kind of cu-" the other began  "Blast them!" OOM-340 ordered. The B1s began to fire in the air, taking out a few of the normal Pegasi Guards ponies, but the uniformed blue ones were able to evade every attack with ease.  Suddenly, the blue uniformed ones all lined up in an V shape and dived down towards the Droids and flew at them. The uniformed ponies flew into front waves of B1s, smashing though many of them before pulling up into the air again.  Suddenly an arrow landed next to OOM-340 and he began to hear hundreds of hooves growing louder, almost drowning out the clanking of the Droid army's synchronized footsteps.  He turned around and saw up ahead that more of those Royal guard's ponies had shown up, with several launching arrows from bows at them from range, while others charged at the Droid forces with spears, lances and swords.  "Uh oh…" OOM-340 said in his high-pitched voice before turning around and pushing last B1s to get behind the battalion. He didn't want to be in front when the close-up combat began.  OOM-340 began to think about what the best strategy would be in this situation.  "Forward units, focus fire on the charging ponies, secondary units, eliminate attacking air units."  He turned to the Octuptarra Droids.  "Hmm" he thought. They wouldn't be accurate shooting in the air, they were long ranged anti-vehicle or anti-fortification units. He reached up to his radio "Octuptarra Droids, fire on their archers!"  At that moment the sounds of melee combat and Droids being smashed and sliced at was heard as the front lines of both sides met, and the sounds of Battle increased.  OOM-340's radio buzzed in again from command  "You are 2 minutes and 30 seconds behind schedule, this delay is intolerable." TA-175 scolded  "Sorry sir! Their army has arrived, and they have slowed us down!"  "Protect the MTT transports, they are vital to the mission's success."  "Roger, Roger!" He said closing the transmission in time to aim and fire at a pony who was charging him.  "Advance! We must win! We cannot fail the commander!" He said, attempting to rally his troops.  Although the ponies were taking out many B1s in the front rows of the army, they were still suffering heavy losses. Up ahead there was an amassment of storm clouds low to the ground, which the Pegasi had brought with them.  "Ha, they think a little rain is going to stop us. We're water resistant!" he said confidently, marching on alongside his troops forward under the storm clouds. Rain began to pour down from the clouds, and although it made the already inaccurate B1's Blaster shots less accurate, they still hit most of their targets as they were directly in front of them.  Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder and flashes of lightning, as various lightning bolts shot out of the clouds towards the ground, striking many Droids and overloading their systems.  "Oh…" OOM-340 began before a series of lightning bolts arched towards the lead Octuptarra droid and hit it directly in its head. The Droid shuttered and a mere second later, its head exploded in a massive flash, and the towering Droid fell to the ground crushing smaller Droids with its legs.  "Oooh…. uh oh!" OOM-340 exclaimed suddenly realizing that the clouds were a trap.  "Pull back! Retreat! Retreat! We must take an alternate route!" he ordered, sprinting away from the front line and pointing towards an intersection.  "Go this way! The objective is this way!" He shouted, as the B2s and remaining B1s followed his orders, along with the MTTs. There was another loud boom, and the second Octuptarra Droid's head exploded, causing its falling body to fall into a set of nearby small shops and apartments leveling several of them.  "What is the delay?!" TA-175 demanded in his monotone voice, with a hint of irritation in it. "You should be there by now! This delay is intolerable!"  "Sorry sir! They had a trap set up and we had to reroute!"  "Made haste, we must capture Manehattan before the Equians have a chance to bring in more reinforcements. Push forwards, sacrifice and make progress!" He ordered, closing the transmission.  The group continued up the side street, where there were less defenses, meeting only half as many Guards ponies.  The uniformed Pegasi came around for another strafe run, taking out a few B2s and B1s, before one was shot down themselves.  The mare shot down was surprised, as she was brought down to the ground forcefully when a Blaster shot pierced her right wing, causing her to crash and tumble across the pavement, which tore up her flight uniform revealing more of her white coat. Surprise struggled to get up on her broken legs, before she was yanked up into the air by a nearby B2's mitt like hands. The machine held her up in its iron grip and carried her over to OOM-340  "Sir, we have a prisoner." The B2 said in its deep voice  OOM-340 activated his radio  "Sir, we have a prisoner, one of their special Air Force units!"  "Prisoners are not required, we will soon control the city. Execute the prisoner"  The B2 heard this and simply blasted Surprise in the back of her head before tossing her body aside and carrying on its forward march.  The Droids continued to close in on the capital buildings west side, finishing off the remaining guards outside as they neared the wall. TA-175 buzzed in over the radio again to OOM-340 and his army  "The MTT transports have reached their assigned position. However, your time status is unacceptable. Initiate an interior building deployment of the droid garrison onboard the MTT. Capture the Capital from the inside, victory conditions approach."  "Roger, Roger!" OOM-340 relied, pointing to the MTTs and then to the west wall of the capital building. "Initiate a breach insertion!" He ordered via radio to the pilots.  The 2 MTTs advanced up to the wall until they were right in front of it, where they swiveled their ball Turrets and let out a series of explosive blasts at the wall breaking away the outer edge of it, before they rammed through the remaining stone into the interior.  "Move in!" OOM-340 ordered his troops who slipped in through the holes while the MTTs extended their storage racks and deployed their Droid garrison.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trixie and Starlight Glimmer stood inside the city hall, which had been turned into a makeshift HQ for the royal guard's ponies watching the front street's guards finish off the remaining Droids from a distance that had been left behind in their retreat.  "Yes! Our trap worked!" Starlight said, pleased.  "These machines will soon learn that you do not mess with Equestria, for we are great and powerful!" Trixie said  There was a series of loud booms and the building shook.  A Guards pony ran up to them.  "Ma'am! The enemy has breached the west side of the building! We'll hold them off while you escape!"  "No! We will stay here and fight!" Starlight said as the sound of Blaster fire filled the rooms nearby.  "The Great and Powerful Trixie is a stage performer not a fighter!" Trixie exclaimed  "You have your fireworks, you have your tricks, use them!"  Trixie hadn't thought about using them.  "Give Trixie a minute to prepare!"  "Well make it quick!" Starlight said trotting towards the breached room with nearby guard’s ponies.  The inside of the room was filled with the dust of stone and plaster, as well as Blaster fire and War cries as the 2 sides tore away at each other.  OOM-340 sat crouched behind an overturned table peering over every now and then to take a shot at a guard or two. Suddenly a bright aqua colored beam of magic cut through an entire squad of B2s! OOM-340 peered over the table again to see a light purple unicorn with a dark purple Mane/tail with a blue strike emitting the beam. He barely managed to duck down under the table again before she would've hit him with the beam.  OOM-340 noticed a B1 carrying an E-60R rocket launcher walking nearby before it was cut in half by her beam.  If he could just get that rocket launcher, he could potentially take out that Unicorn and help secure the area. He prepared himself mentally to dive out of cover, scoop up the rocket launcher and fire it at her.  "Here goes nothing!" He shouted as he rolled out of cover, picking up the rocket launcher and aiming it at Starlight Glimmer, before he fired it while continuing to let out a battle cry  "AAAAAAAAHHH!"  Starlight Glimmer gasped as a droid dull mustard yellow markings rolled out from behind a table and picked up and black tube-shaped device and held it out to her, all while yelling in its high-pitched voice.  She turned to face it ready to cut it down with her magic when suddenly there was bright flash at the end of the tube, and a small rocket flew out: Heading straight for her!  She quickly attempted to raise a magic shield, but it was only deployed part way when the missile hit, resulting him her being launched across the room and out the doorway. However, she was the lucky one, as the nearby Guards ponies had been blown apart into bits and pieces.  She tried to stand but screamed in pain as she tried to put weight on her front hooves, her legs were broken!  "Some pony help me!" She said, trying again to stand before collapsing in pain.  Trixie came running out of a doorway with her wizard hat and cape, along with her saddlebag of materials, before skidding to a stop when she saw Starlight sprawled across the floor.  "Starlight! Can you walk?" Trixie asked attempting to help her friend up  "No… I think my legs are broken. I think you're going to have to carry me" she said  Trixie glanced at the doorway, the shadows of the Droids visible around the corner as they marched closer, before she threw down a series of fireworks at the doorway and lit them, before rushing back over to Starlight, picking her up on her back.  The first group of Droids emerged from the doorway as the fireworks went off, blowing many of the droids apart in a colorful, loud series of explosions.  "Get ready! I'm going to blow a smoke bomb and you teleport us out!" Trixie said  "Alright! Go!"  There was a sudden cloud of smoke and a poof, and when the smoke cleared, the 2 were gone.  OOM-340 tossed the rocket launcher aside and walked through the doorway to the main hall to catch up with his troops.  "Area secured sir!" A B1 reported  "Good! I'll inform the commander!" He replied activating his radio "the capitol has been secured sir!"  "Congratulations on your mission's success. The city will soon fall to the Confederacy. Establish a base of operations at the Capitol, I shall arrive shortly."  "Roger, Roger!"