//------------------------------// // The Siege of New Yoke: Dumb Luck // Story: The Unlikley Sanctuary // by Tie RoamingHooves //------------------------------// Well here you go. another interruption to Daring Dash. If there are any hiccups in this let me know. Longshot - a pony/griffon sniper or marksman. D-rifle - a griffon made weapon that is preferred by longshots. It shoots D-bolts(diamonds that have been carved into cylinder-like shapes). It is cause devastating damage to a target and is fatal most of the time. The Siege of New Yoke New Yoke City Frontlines, 6 blocks north of 56th Street July 18, 1543PH Magic bolts, arrows and dirt flew through the air between the two groups of fighters. The griffons were slowly gaining territory as time progressed. This part of the city has been cleared of civilians for the most part but those who remain only serve to hinder the defending ponies. "PRIVATE, GET YOUR FLANK UP HER NOW!!" yelled Corporal Howling Wind from behind the cover of an overturned steam carriage. The orange pegasus clenched the sword he possessed in his teeth and peered out from the shop he'd holed up in. He briefly considered flying out but decided against it as it would equate to suicide. He gulped and mustered up whatever bravery he had and bolted out of a blown out wall and towards the Corporal. A few D-bolts and arrows embedded themselves into the ground as the Private ran for his life to cover. Morning Fog dived for cover and slid across the ground successfully avoiding death. He laughed at his survival ignoring everything around him. Howling Wind hoofed him in the jaw to get his attention. "Private, we need to kill the bastard in the in the window with the with the D-rifle. I need you to take this blast geode and get as close to him as possible and blow his sorry flank to tartarus. Do you understand?" "Yes, sir!" he said reflexively and immediately regretting it. "Good! Get it in gear, Private! I'll cover you!" The green unicorn raised his head and let lose five or six magic bolts into the griffons cover. With successful distraction the Private eyed an open door to a seven-story apartment to his right and ran as fast as his hooves would carry him and rushed into the building. He ran up the stairs until he reached the top floor and kicked in the door of an apartment which was now abandoned. Morning Fog made his way to a window and found he was about two stories above the longshot's position. He broke out the window and lined put the blast geode in his wing. He lined up his aim and threw it into the target building. The walls blew out of where the griffon used to be leaving an exposed kitchen several stories above the ground. The debris was wrapped in a light green aura and its fall path met part of the griffon line in the street below. The Private's eyes went to the roof. He decided to press his luck and grabbed the sword in his teeth. It was surprisingly light and the Private still hasn't gotten used to that fact. Morning Fog took flight and went up to the roof of the adjacent building and landed on top. There he found two griffon soldiers. They were bigger than him and better trained. Odds were that he would die here. The first griffon flew towards him and pulled out a dagger from under its wing. Morning Fog reacted by rolling to the right. He got back onto his hooves and placed a solid kick into the griffon before it had a chance to correct its flight path. Letting out a deep grunt of pain he could identify the griffon as a male. The griffon plummeted off the roof and into the wall of the one across the ally with a crunch that signified broken bones. The Private turned around to see the second griffon had a crossbow raised. This griffon was less much less muscular smaller than the other that meet its doom. The female griffon held the crossbow in her talons shakily. He looked to her eyes and it was all he needed. Her green eyes were the size of pinpricks and begged him to leave. She was a rookie and likely hasn't killed. The Private took his own dagger from its respective sheath and advanced on the trembling greenhorn. No matter what kind of advantages you have be it size, training, or weaponry, it equates to little in the hands of a rookie, especially against a hardened killer. Continuing his advance, he looked into the griffoness's eyes with cold indifference. She clamped shut her eyes and pulled the trigger implanting a bow into the ground. The Private didn't flinch and kept moving forward toward the griffon. She then flared her wings and fled. The Private shook his head. She was just following orders and he probably couldn't have hurt her if he tried. He sheathed his dagger and looked down. Where she was standing there was a single blast geode. He picked it up and looked over the edge and had a clear view of the griffons cover. He looked back to his comrades' positions and they weren't faring too well. He took the blast geode in his wing and lobbed it into the street while simultaneously taking flight and diving down. The geode hit the ground and prompting those who noticed to jump away before it exploded killing six and injuring more. The Private landed directly on the helmet of a griffon with his legs taught. The griffons spine compressed inward and he fell dead immediately. Morning once again went skyward and brought his dagger out while speeding towards another foe. While maintaining flight, he cut the wing of a griffon who stood flat on the wall. The griffon reflexively took his own dagger to where his attacker would be but only to find it plunged into another griffon. Shocked, he stepped outward only to take a magic bolt to the face. Ponies on the other side of the street started to press forward and force their enemies back. Morning sighed mentally and continued diving on the wounded griffon squad below. Upon another descent, a lucky shot placed itself into a gap in the pegasus's armor. This caused him to lose focus on flying momentarily. Realizing he was still earth-bound he pulled to the right to avoid falling directly behind the griffons cover. This however, proved to be a mistake as he slammed into building disorienting him. The stunned pegasus was an easy target so a nearby griffon leveled a his cross-bow with Morning Fog's head. The streaked toward him and placed itself into a wall after the Private found himself in a magenta glow and was thrown forwards. Unable to orient himself, he slammed into the ground and was quickly pulled behind cover. "You are one lucky stallion, Foggy!" Lance Corporal Fresh Mug yelled while taking a few shots with her bolt caster. "I am aren't I?" he replied stupidly before trying to get up. "Hey, stay down. Your done, Foggy. We got this and you've done enough." "No can do. They're still out there and I ne-" "Thats an order, Soldier! Stand down!" Staff Sergeant Loose Bolt yelled from and over turned steam carriage adjacent to their position. "Dammit, Sarge!" "I'm not gonna let you kill yourself kid! Your through!" Fresh Mug's Bolt caster jammed and she ducked behind the rubble that provided them cover. "Seriously, Foggy. Listen to the colt. Its not worth killing yourself. Please, just stay down." A sparkly rock found itself behind them on the ground. Mornings eyes widened and he shot to his hooves. He ran over to the rock and kicked it away only to be blown through a widow of a cafe when it exploded. He lied on the ground and stared at the ceiling laughing once again at his survival. He vaguely saw Fresh's blue face over his body shouting at something that he couldn't hear. The building shook violently causing her to flinch an look back momentarily before she set her gaze on him. She was shouting something at him which was useless of course as he faded into blackness. Morning Fog shot up from the bed. He was in a field hospital. Ponies lined the beds and he relaxed knowing he was safe. Turning to the other side, he saw something out of place. A biped walking past with papers in his hand. Recognizing the human from the news, he hopped to his hooves. He was a little sore but other than that, he was fine. Wasting no time, he galloped out of the tent. It was starting to get dark but it didn't matter. The sun was only behind the mountain. Foggy ran between the various ponies in the area, which was difficult because of how busy it was, and caught up to him. "Hey." he said. The human turned to face him. He raised an eyebrow and seemed like he was staring through Morning Fog's very soul. "Can I help you..." He glanced at the band on Fog's upper foreleg. "...Private?" "I- uh... um, just wanted to talk." came the nervous reply. The human smiled a bit and chuckled. "Any other time I would have said sure. But I kinda have..." He motions to the papers in his hand and then motions to the rest of the buildings and tents with a weird arm flail. "...everything to do." "Oh, alright. You are pretty busy." Disappointment would be an understatement. "I'll tell you what, come find me sometime when we're not doing anything important and we'll see, Private..." "Fog, Morning Fog." "Alright then, Private Fog. I'll see you around." The human started walking away. Morning Fog started to do the same when the human started talking again. "By the way, your lucky I hate being called "sir" because I am a superior officer." "You didn't seem like the type!" he yelled back. Morning Fog started walking back. After getting assistance with directions, he found his way to his squad mates. They were in the "mess hall" which was just a clearing in between the massive shipping crated that were stacked in the docks he was located in. Ponies weather they were refugees of soldiers, were grabbing food from the line of tables that held various pots and containers. He scanned the crowd for a minute before locating his squad at the far end of the crowd. He started walking and had to ease through multitudes of seated or moving ponies, often using the words "excuse me" or "pardon." Being polite to strangers is important. It was a hassle to get through, but he did. He walked in and heard Private Orange Peel telling a story. "...and then when I finally made it into the kitchen, the cabinets were empty and half of the neighborhood was on fire! And let me tell you that to this day, nopony has ever found that rabbi- Well look who's alive! Foggy, get over here!" "Hey." he said rubbing the back of his head with his hoof. He trotted over and took a seat next to Fresh who smiled as a greeting. He looked around. A lantern the sat in the middle of the group and lit up the area between the seven ponies. Corporal Howling Wind, a green unicorn with a wavy mane which was slightly darker than that of the green of his fur, sat behind a crate and was levitating cards. His color had earned him the nick name of "Celery Stick". Wind's cutie mark was a cloud that had a slightly noticeable green glow around it and was surrounded by lines that were curled at the end to signify wind. Staff Sergeant Loose Bolt sat at the same crate looking at the cards standing up in his card tray. The frown on his yellow face told everypony that the earthpony had a bad hand (which it was called for whatever reason.) His light brown mane was deliberately blown out of his line of sight as he smiled and grabbed a card in his teeth and placed it on the table causing the other patrons groan. His cutie mark was that of an iron bolt with a pair of pliers. He was an iron worker off duty. Sergeant Ember Glow sat at the crate and gained a smirk on her tired. She was light red but the end of each hair in her fur seemed to be orange if not given focus. Her mane was the color of embers rising from a fire which gave her the name she has. Her cutie mark was simply a torch. Ember levitated a card down to the table leaving the others to envy her brilliant play. Lance Corporal Fresh Mug ran a coffee shop in Trottington. She was a deep blue pegasus with a red straight mane, which was cut short for easier management of it. He cutie mark was a cappuccino which Morning Fog would die for. She and Morning had been long time friends since they grew up together. When Morning joined the army he was surprised to have been placed in the same squad as Fresh. He was glad for that now because she saved his life more times than he could count. Private First Class Fine Print was a lawyer from Fillydelphia. He was the squads resident kiss-flank. He was beige with a dirt brown mane that he liked to keep nice and neat whenever possible. He sat looking at the city in the distance. This earthpony was obviously homesick. His cutie mark was a legal document with a quill and magnifying glass. Private Deep Frost was as ice blue with a lighter blue mane. The pegasus was part of the weather team in Vanhoover. His cutie mark was as snowflake and was self explanatory. He was good at making it cold. He was a cousin of none other than Rainbow Dash. The were close since she had little family left. However, he hated her fame because he would be questioned about her constantly much to his annoyance. Private Orange Peel was a resident to Detrot. He was part of the Orange family but wasn't one of the ones from the city much to the luck of all who know him. He was a farmer through and through. Everypony knows of his relation to the Apple family but didn't bother him about it like they did Frosty. His cutie mark was a partially peeled orange as to his families namesake. "So I'm guessing we won?" Morning Fog asked. "Of course we did. Stop asking stupid questions." Howling Wind said sounding offended. "You got lucky... again. You need to stop relying on luck cause that's going to kill your sorry flank one day." Ember joked from the middle of the card game. "So, how you holding up over there?" "Well I'm sore but that's pretty much it. A D-bolt grazed my shoulder but I won't complain." Morning replied, rubbing his shoulder. "Your lucky it only grazed you. Any more to the left and it would've killed you." "If I had died back there, it probably be from the the two griffons on the roof." Everypony stopped. Loose Bolt was to first to speak. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you took out to griffons by yourself. Private, that was luck if I ever saw it. Your luck is just uncanny." "Actually I took out one and scared the other away. She was a rookie and probably couldn't hurt anything if she tried." "You didn't kill her?" "No. She's just following orders like us. She didn't need to die if she couldn't put up a fight." "Still though, taking a griffon hoof to hoof is near suicide." Ember added. "Well, what can I say? I just got lucky." Morning Fog was hit upside the head by Fresh. "Ow, What was that for?!" Fog whined. "You almost died because of your luck." Fresh said harshly. "I admit, you are one lucky stallion but luck only goes so far. Stop doing that." she finished almost whispering the last part. Before anypony could say anything else, the medium pitch chirp of an AA gem firing was heard closely followed by an explosion. An airship burst into flames and started to descend towards the docks. Griffon occupants of the doomed aircraft flew out . A few were intercepted by pegasi but most escaped. The craft was glowing with magic as any unicorn present tried to steer the flaming wreck away. The nose slammed into the beginning of the dock and the rest fell into the water. "That was close." Fog commented. "That was too close." another voice added. Everypony turned around to see the human flanked by Major Arrowhead. The ponies scrambled to their hooves. "Sir!" they said in unison with the exception of Morning Fog. "At ease. I need you all to report to command immediately. You'll be briefed there." "Yes, sir." "Alright then, I'l see you there." The human walked off with the Major leaving confused ponies behind. They all looked at each other. "Does anypony know whats going on?" Orange asked. "No clue." Fresh replied. "I don't like this." Bolt said bitterly. "It'll be fine. Lets just get there before command throws a fit." With that the group walked back through the crowd. It was an uneventful walk to the command which was a complex of many tents. When they arrived to their destination, the Major and the human were waiting inside for them. "Ok, it looks like everyone is here so we'll get started. Before that, know that you are free to ask questions at any time. My name is Tyrin Roberson. I've been appointed to the rank of Colonel for whatever reason but that's besides the point. You are here because we need bombs delivered. These bombs needs to go under the griffon lines in the storm drain here, here and here. They will explode when a unicorn in your squad releases a relatively strong burst of magic causing the ground underneath the griffon defenses to collapse sending them to what ever fate meets them. In the confusion caused by this, it will allow our forces to push forward considerably before they can regroup. During this time, an focused attack on their lines at the surface and a little ways from will act as a diversion leading away most defenders. There you have it. Any questions?" Staff Sergeant Bolt spoke up. "Just one." "Name it." "Why us and not anypony more qualified?" "Ah, that's because our best are defending the command center and civilians. You can pull this off just as easily and you were due to head back to the frontline anyways. You also seem to be lucky. Your squad has no casualties whatsoever all the others aren't that fortunate. Call it a gut feeling if you want but you're the right team for the job." "When would we be leaving?" "As soon as possible. I won't lie to you, this is a last ditch attempt at turning the tide of this battle. We need this to be done. Can you do it?" Fresh Mug and Morning Fog looked at each other and nodded. The rest of the squad seemed to be doing the same. "You can count on us." "Good. When you are ready report to me. Until then get armored up and prepare. You are dismissed." The ponies made their way out of the tent and walked to the armory. Morning Fog and Fresh Mug were chatting it up while on the way. "So do you think we can pull this off? Fresh was obviously worried. Morning scoffed and waved a hoof dismissively. "Of course we can. Luck is right up my ally and he's asking for it." "That's why I'm worried. Their letting him give orders on gut feelings? Things couldn't be that bad could they?" "Well, the Colonel said that this was a last ditch effort so it probably is." Fresh had her body armor on and was carrying her helmet with a wing. Fog was doing the same. "I hope not because that's only going to put more pressure on us." "It doesn't matter how much pressure is on us Fresh. We're going to do it. Remember, I'm lucky." he said as he slipped on his helmet and walked out with Fresh in tow. It had long been dark out and the moon was rising. She looked out to the city which was only alit with fire rather than lights of the buildings. The orange reflected of the water of the harbor. She'd be lying if she said it wasn't a little bit pretty. She then sighed and started walking after her squad. "I hope so because were going to need all the luck we can get."