//------------------------------// // Are we there yet? // Story: Of War and Friendship // by DocDelray //------------------------------// Dash felt as though she was about to jump out of her skin at the sound of the voice on the other side of the comlink, “Cl-Cloud Eye here, reporting in, Cap!” She cursed herself under her breath for the way her voice cracked slightly while addressing her commanding officer. Very uncool of her, “Uhm, over.” “Finally, been tryin’ to get someone for the past hour,” From the sound of things Kad hadn’t noticed her slight outburst, “Status report. Over.” With a quick, steadying breath Rainbow Dash forced herself to become serious again, “We found the city mostly deserted, and the cause is they’re loading ponies onto their ships and taking them away. From the look of things, they’re keeping ‘em locked up in the warehouses near the market district. Over.” “Good work Cloud Eye, a right fine recon,” Her superior’s praise brought a proud smile to her face, “Don’t worry ‘bout the captives, Torb’s puttin’ together a team usin’ some volunteers we found down here. He’ll have ’em free and causin’ trouble for Deathwatch soon enough, should make a good show.” This news helped raise the spirits of both Pegasi eliciting a sigh of relief, “Main concern right now though is Ghost Team and Sucker Punch. Can’t raise either of ’em.” Rainbow Dash glanced at the sparking wreckage in the corner, “Well, we found this metal box thing in a clock tower, after we smashed it we were able to talk to you again. Over.” She heard him groan something explicit, “Jammers, was afraid of that. Looks like they’ve been expectin’ us, good thing we didn’t plan to stand ’em up. If they’re movin’ on schedule then Sucker Punch’s already dropped off the goods.” And if Dash knew Rarity, she knew that she was anything if not punctual, “Knowin’ Kell, he’s goin’ through with his part of the plan, regardless. I need you to get Sucker Punch’s attention to set off the fireworks then rendezvous with Ghost Team before they walk into a trap with no back up. Over.” Snapping a salute to nopony in particular with her forelimb, Dash puffed out her chest, “Don’t worry Cap; leave everything to me! Cloud Eye out!” As her com shut off she suddenly noticed the confused look in Fluttershy’s eyes, “Uhm, Rainbow Dash… How are we going to do all of that?” “I don’t know, but we have to find a way; everypony is counting on us.” She stated with an air of determination. Her eyes scanned over the room, there had to be something in here they could use. Finally they stopped on the dead trooper, “Hmmm, maybe our new friend here can help…” Fluttershy bit back the churning in her stomach as Dash rolled him over onto his side and started rifling through the dead man’s pockets and pouches, “I… I really don’t think this is okay…” She said, desperately trying to deter her friend’s new course of action. Rainbow Dash however paid her pleading little mind, “Look, I’m not doing this for fun; maybe he’s got something we could start a fire with or… Wait a second… Fluttershy, look at these.” Trotting a little closer, she soon found what leant a hint of excitement to Rainbow Dash’s voice. In her hooves she had a pair of metallic balls that the pair had seen a number of times already, wielded by friend and foe alike, “Are… Those, what I think they are?” Try as she might, Dash couldn’t wipe the smile from her muzzle, “If they are, then we just found a way to signal Rarity and the others.” Fluttershy smiled weakly at this revelation. She was happy that these devices would help them keep the rest of their friends safe, but it still saddened the kind hearted mare to no end that it would still cause others to get hurt. Violence only ever breeds more violence, but Deathwatch had proven their majority to be beyond simple acts of good will. In her musings, something new entered her mind, “Uhm, Rainbow Dash… I uh, I don’t know how to use a grenade, do you?” Dash paused a moment before staring blankly at the tiny orbs of destruction, her ears began to droop along with her confidence, “Well buck…” Kad let out a sigh of relief as the comlink was cut off; maybe this plan would work, after all. Taking a moment, he regarded what was left of his team for assaulting the palace. With some reluctance he had agreed to Torb’s plan to take the defectors with him and rally the rest of the resistance to free the captives and fight back, leaving Kad with Traycn, Zex and Twilight to make the attack on the castle. Ideally, he’d prefer to attack the city with close air support and an artillery barrage all backed up by a full company, but the chances of that were looking more than a little slim to him. His gaze rested on their Equestrian ally. Her large, expressive eyes made it easy for him to read her with or without the Force. Kad could easily tell she was more than a little apprehensive about the way things were going. What he found odd was how willing she was to follow along with the plan, “We need to double-time it to the surface; show’s ‘bout to start.” Torb let himself be led by Fancy Pants back to the main tunnels, “Are you absolutely sure about this plan of yours, erm… Torb, was it?” “I see little option otherwise, my friend,” Torb sighed, “You lack weapons and training, but you have numbers and possibly even surprise. But the most important tool of all will be giving them drive.” “But they aren’t fighters,” His companion reminded him, “There are only a hooffull of experienced soldiers here and most of them have lost all hope after the first attack.” The stallion hung his head dejectedly, “Now with all that’s happened since this morning, any fire they had has died.” Torb removed his helmet and tucked it under his arm. In the dim lighting of the underground, his dark blue skin and raven hair made him almost melt into the shadows around him. The eerie glow of his crimson cybernetic eye shone brightly in the inky dark. Despite this, his smile held a disarming softness to it, “Then I will rekindle it.” As they made their way to where the majority of the displaced citizens were gathered, the Chiss strode to the center of the room, looking about at the tired, hopeless faces around him. He reminded himself that he’d done more with less in the past, “People of Canterlot, why have you surrendered?” His words came out stern and loud as he connected with every eye he could, “Do you not see what I see? You are on the cusp of victory, and yet here you sit in the darkness and filth while your city lays besieged by mongrels!” A number of faces in the crowd showed the expected result of confusion, a few seemed bemused by his efforts, “You see them coming to your world in greater force; what you fail to see is that this means others are on their way. The Protectors are on their way! There is no way they can turn a blind eye to this world and there is no way they will let Deathwatch do as they please. But until they arrive, you cannot stop your fight!” He could feel it, he had every eye on him now, every ear hanging on his words, “Right now Deathwatch is taking your friends, your neighbors and your FAMILIES. They will put them in chains and sell them to the highest bidder if we do not act!” “What do you expect us to do, alien?” Torb was beginning to wonder if anyone would take his bait. “Fight! Fight with your pride and your courage, fight until you are free!” He bellowed to the crowd. “They have weapons the likes of which nopony’s ever seen,” Another random face called out, “What you’re asking for is suicide!” Angry murmurs from the crowd joined in on this sentiment. “If that is the case then fight to your last breath!” Torb snapped back at them, “Fight for every inch of ground, fight for every grain of dirt. If every one of us dies this day, then let them say we did so with a ferocity that shook the galaxy!” He could feel their rising emotions all around him; he nearly had them, “Ponies of Canterlot, your people need you. Who here will go to them?” Through the murmurs and concerned mumbles the gold-and-blue-clad Pegasus known as Spitfire strode forward till she was standing in front of Torb, “I’m going.” This only caused the crowd’s conversations to grow, “I’d rather go down fighting than sit here in the dark waiting to be saved!” Not to be left out, Fancy Pants strode his way beside the Chiss. His chest proudly puffed out as he looked on into the crowd, “I, for one, would never be able to look myself in the mirror again if I didn’t do my part. My friend, you have my support to the bitter end, should it come.” Others in the crowd began calling into question their own worth as slowly but surely more mares and stallions started stepping forth proudly declaring their support. Many of whom had to break themselves away from the tearful protests of loved ones. Inwardly, Torb couldn’t help but smile proudly, they weren’t much of anything at all, but they were a small army. Slowly but surely, a few cheers from the crowd became a loud roar of shouts and yells of support. Fancy Pants muttered to the Lieutenant under all the shouts and cheers, “I do hope you’re right about help coming.” Torb couldn’t hold back a smile, “You and I both.” The oppressive walls of the sewers slowly started to give way around Kad and his small contingent. The smell of fresh air pushed its way past them the further they trekked. This small fact lent a sizable boost in moral to Twilight Sparkle as her pace quickened a bit. She knew what was waiting for her on the surface, the same destruction she’d seen in Ponyville; only this would be on a much larger scale. Her birth place and home for the better part of her life had been ravaged in her absence, and only enemies lurked around every corner. “Sir, voices up ahead!” Zex called out, killing her musings. “Probably that patrol Fancy said he’d sent out,” Kad reminded them, “Just try an’ keep it civil an’ there shouldn’t be any trouble.” This last bit he said directly to Traycn, receiving a snarl in retort. Twilight began craning her ears to get a better feel for the voices Zex had picked up on. There was something about one of them; it tugged at her mind and heart when she heard it. As they got closer her spirit began to rise as she started to fully recognize who it was, “Is it… Is it really?” She blindly darted past the rest of her group down the tunnels, moving head-long towards the voice that unintentionally teased at her. “Sparkle, get your sheb back here!” Kad yelled at the young mare as she broke away from them in a hurry. Deaf to her CO’s angry words, all she could think about was the source of that voice. As the darkened wall around her gave way to the blinding sunlight ahead, she quickly found herself barreling out into a spillway nestled discreetly behind an alleyway. Nearly at full gallop, she was barely able to come to a complete stop before almost running head-long into a group of armored stallions. They were a ragged group, their armor scarred and scorched from near misses of blaster fire. The pikes and halberds kept at the ready looked to have seen much better days, but wear and tear meant they had dispatched a few of the invaders, at least. Her approach, though, had not gone unnoticed as they quickly whirled around and brought their weapons to bear against her, freezing only after seeing she was Equestrian. At the head of this small collection of warponies was the one she’d hoped to have found again. Against all hope and overwhelming dread, he was standing here right in front of her. A white Unicorn stallion with those strong, unbreakable features, his dark blue mane and tail coupled with soft blue eyes. His form clad in the armor of a guard captain with a pair of blades sheathed on his back. Upon seeing her, his face was the epitome of both shock and joy. The boundless strength she’d known him for looked to drain away as he stumbled slightly, “Twilee?” She quickly bound forward and wrapped her forelimbs around his neck tightly, “Shining Armor, you’re alive! Thank Celestia!” Twilight felt as though she might start crying uncontrollably then and there as her brother embraced her. “Twilight, what are you doing here,” He finally took notice of her new look, “And where did you get this armor?” There was little time to explain as the rest of her group had begun to catch up, “Cadet, you run off like that again an’ I’ll put a blaster bolt through your leg!” Despite the blank glare of the helmet, Twilight could feel the anger radiate from the Captain. Shining Armor quickly pushed Twilight behind him as he rushed forward, “Soldiers, enemies in the tunnels!” His magic’s aura encased his swords and quickly drew them as he closed in on Kad. Twilight’s eyes went wide in shock as she realized what was happening around her, “Shining Armor, wait! Don’t!” Kad showed no hesitation with his opponent. Saber quickly igniting with the sound of energy springing to life, the lightsaber’s blade cleaved through the pony-smithed swords with ease. This created a brief second of shock in the pony’s eyes and was all the opening he needed as his fist quickly connected with the side of his face. Stumbling back slightly Shining Armor was quick to shake off the blow and was ready to move back in against his foe. He found himself stopped in his tracks as the saber’s blade of golden energy was leveled with his face. The heat from the weapon was like standing near a continuous jet of flame. His eyes held strong and defiant with Kad’s visor as his aura grasped what was left of his blades tightly, his mind searching him over for a weakness he could exploit. “I’m gettin’ real tired of folks attackin’ us because they’re too dense to notice we ain’t Deathwatch.” Kad snarled at the Unicorn. “Sorry but you aliens all look alike, to me.” Shining growled back at him. Throughout the exchange, his mind sought a plan of attack. This one was different from the others he’d ran into and certainly armed in a way that set him apart, but he had to protect his soldiers and most importantly his sister. Before any move could made; a bright flash of purple energy encased them both and before either knew what was happening, they found themselves several yards away from each other. Twilight stood in the middle of them, a look of frustration on her face, “Everypony needs to calm down, right now!” Looking around the broken clearing of the spillway, she could see her diversion came in the nick of time. Traycn stood over a pair of guardsponies, their spear uselessly jabbed into the thick metal of his chest, barely leaving a scratch. Zex thankfully had more or less surrendered and was busy trying to calm down the Taung monstrosity before he killed anypony, “Shining Armor, he’s telling the truth! They aren’t with Deathwatch; they’re with a group called the Neo Protectors, and they’re here to help us save this city.” Twilight’s brother kept his broken swords at the ready as he made his way back to his sister’s side, never once taking his eyes off Kad, “Sorry if I’m little slow to trust these… Things, but we’ve been fighting a losing battle out here, if you haven’t noticed. Now why are you here with these aliens and why are you wearing their armor?” “Short answer,” Kad chimed in casually, “She’s one’a us.” This answer didn’t seem to sit well with him at all as he turned an angry eye Kad’s way, “What’d you say!?” “She accepted the armor, swore herself to my command an’ followed me here to your doorstep, son,” Kad recounted for him as simply as he could, “Your sister is a Mandalorian now; one that needs more than a little work in the discipline department, I might add.” Twilight lowered herself a bit in recoil both at Kad’s words on her breaking protocol and the eyes burning into her just behind his polarized T visor. To make things even worse, her brother’s stern gaze was now tightly fixed on her now as well, “Twilee, what exactly did you get yourself into?” Taking a deep breath she forced herself to keep her eyes with his, “Big brother, you’re not the only one charged with protecting this city and our nation as a whole. Did you honestly think I would just sit back and watch as ponies were hurt and even killed, while YOU could be killed? Maybe you forgot, but I am an Element of Harmony, a pupil of Princess Celestia and a proud citizen of Canterlot, and I will not sit idle during this crisis.” Twilight was more than a little surprised by the determination in her own voice and how easily the words flowed from her, “Captain Skirata and his warriors offered my friends and I a chance to help them stop this madness. We accepted.” The look of restrained anger in his eyes had been replaced with a hint of disappointment and sadness. Twilight wished she could block out those eyes, that somewhere in this headband’s visor there was a way to keep that look from boring into her, “I’m sorry big brother… But I had to do something…” She muttered out as she hung her head. The feeling of a limb moving around her neck and pulling her close shattered her sadness, “Twilee, I understand… I just wish that you didn’t have to see what they’ve done to our home.” Shining Armor spoke softly to her, bringing welcomed comfort to her heart. With a sigh, Kad let himself add to the emotional display, “Son, from one soldier to another, we both know you don’t always get to pick an’ choose your allies. Sometimes ya gotta take what ya got, an’ right now all we got is each other.” Disengaging his weapon and returning it to his belt, Kad strode forward to the pair of Unicorns, “Twilight has kept me an’ my boys safe more than once; she’s a bright girl an’ got power like I ain’t ever seen. She’s a valuable asset an’ I’m proud to have her an’ her friends with us.” “In the Mandalorians, we have a sayin’,” Kad continued as he removed his helmet and placed it under his arm. A smile upon his weathered features made him look less like a cutthroat warrior and more like a kindly teacher, “Aliit ori’shya tal’din, family is more than blood. Our family is made up’a those willin’ to fight beside us an’ watch our backsides. It’d be an honor to welcome you as well, son.” His hand extended to the stallion awaiting an answer. Shining Armor looked between the hand, his sister and man’s disarmingly friendly look, “My… Allegiance is to my Princesses and my sister, first and foremost, Captain,” With some hesitation he placed his hoof in the offered hand, “If it will save our city, however, I am willing to offer you whatever assistance I can.” Giving the hoof a firm shake, Kad nodded knowingly along with Armor’s words, “Of course, wouldn’t have it any other way,” Slipping his helmet back on his world returned to the readouts of his HUD, “I’d suggest startin’ by gettin’ back to the rest of your folk, there’s gonna be a big push to free the captives while we hit the palace. They’ll need every experienced, uh, hoof, they can get.” Armor gave his still disturbed looking soldiers a motion towards the sewer entrance, “You heard him, make sure Fancy gets all the help he needs.” Kad couldn’t say he was surprised that Shining Armor stood his ground while the rest of his men hesitantly galloped off into the darkness, “What, you didn’t think I was gonna let my little sister march off into the enemy stronghold with a bunch of heavily armed weirdoes without me, did you? Besides, as a Captain of the Guard, I have a score to settle back at the palace.” Kad couldn’t help but smirk at this declaration, they were making the most interesting friends and allies on this trip, “Hah, ya got a right fine vod there Twilight; a right fine brother indeed.” His gaze shifted out to the greater part of the city, “Now we just need the girls to set off the fireworks an’ we can start this party proper.” Kell and Arkanna had finally made their way to the overhang of the palace over the edge of the sheer mountain side. The pair had managed to find a ledge to set up a temporary camp to take a much needed breather and final equipment check. There were few words between the two as they prepared mentally for their final leg of the mission. They would have to be quick, precise and most importantly, silent. The silence had finally started to nag at Arkanna, “Sergeant, we haven’t heard a peep out of the other teams; should we be worried?” Behind his visor Kell rolled his eyes in frustration; he’d rather have his brother here, but of course he just had to be leading from the front, “I wouldn’t worry ‘bout it kid, just keep your mind on the target.” Dark thoughts, however, had begun to inch their way into the young warrior’s mind, “But, what if something happened to the others? We’ve been out of contact with everyone else for well over two hours.” “What do ya wanna do kid, send up some smoke signals?” Kell snapped at him as he reassembled his beloved rifle, “They’re alive; got a gut feeling about it. If they weren’t, would you want Teth to get away with that, too?” Arkanna let out a sigh as he gave in to the Staff Sergeant’s words, “No, Sergeant; I’d want to shoot the chakaar myself.” “That’s the spirit, kiddo.” He stated happily as he slapped the Private’s shoulder plate, “Now get ready, we’re going up an’ over, no jetpacks.” Arkanna looked out over the overhang and the awkward angles it created with the palace, “No jetpacks, this is gonna be a little rough…” Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, the assassin smirked happily, “That’s why we’re an Epsilon Squad; we do this stuff just for kicks!” Taking aim with the ascension cable on his gauntlet, he let the grappling hook fire out over the expanse and sink into the rock surface, “Now try to keep up.” Arkanna watched as his Staff Sergeant flung himself off the ledge with an excited cheer. His eyes followed the motions of the adrenalin junkie as he swung out over the open air. At the peak of his swing, the cable quickly began retracting, pulling him to the edge of the stone surface. Taking a deep breath to steady his already screaming nerves, Arkanna took aim with his grappling hook and fired into roughly the same area as Kell, “Okay, you can do this… You can do this…” He repeated to himself to build some kind of confidence in his otherwise suicidal actions. Closing his eyes, the young Mandalorian flung himself off the ledge and into the waiting arms of the open sky. Letting out a surprised yell, he copied Kell’s motions to a tee as his cable quickly began pulling him in. The sudden tug in a new direction sent a burning pain ripping through his arm before he slammed into the cliff side. His fingers quickly grabbing hold of the ornate architecture of the palace, he began climbing, trying to ignore the angry protests from his shoulder to his wrist. He had to keep pace with Kell, who had already managed to scale to the edge of a balcony. Kell gave his charge the signal to stop; he was crazy, but not stupid. With the optic controls of his HUD, he flipped through his vision modes until he settled on the sonar. Every little sound created a detailed map of world around him and happened to be a useful tool for seeing what or who was right around the bend. The heart beats and idle chatter of a pair of Deathwatch troopers created an outline just beyond the rock surface. The assassin motioned to Arkanna about the two troopers just ahead of them on the balcony. After receiving a nod of recognition, Kell positioned his artificial leg against the castle wall gripping the edge of the balcony. The metal plates of the fake limb began to shift and rearrange. With an excited grin he kicked off the surface with a dull THUMP, the indentation of a boot print left on the surface. His body propelled by the sudden burst was able to make the rather impressive acrobatic flip over the edge of the railing. The metallic limb came down in an arc, using the heavy momentum to land a brutal blow to the top of one trooper’s head. As the weaponized leg slammed dead-center on top of the target’s helmet, a second burst of focused gravity was released with another THUMP. The force caved in the helmet with a sickeningly satisfying crunch as the metal gave way to the blow, taking a sizable portion of the skull with it. As the other trooper brought his weapon to bear against the sudden intruder, Arkanna slammed into him from behind, the Private’s wrist mounted slide blade jamming itself into the enemy’s unprotected side. The jagged blade slid between his ribs and into his lungs before a quick pull fully deflated the organ. Going limp in his arms, Arkanna set the body on the ground carefully, so as to not make any unwanted noise. “Not bad, kid,” Kell playfully praised him as he brought his rifle from its sling to his shoulder, “Now we dig in here and wait for the signal, assuming the plan is still on.” Rainbow Dash sat on her haunches, glaring daggers at the metallic orb in her hoof. Silently, she demanded it give up the secrets of its inner workings as she turned it over. Her eyes critically examining every switch and crevice of the weapon, “Come on, these things can’t be THAT hard to figure out, I mean, they’re made to be turned on and then thrown away before they explode. How many different ways can these things explode anyways, can they explode twice or something?” “Uhm, Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy began nudging her friend’s side, “We might have a tiny problem.” “Huh, what is it now?” The speedster was starting to get more annoyed by the second as the prospect of more complications was presented. She followed the direction her friend’s hoof was pointing, to the small device sitting on the ground near the felled Deathwatch Trooper. A gruff voice was emanating from the comlink lying upon the floor, “Angel three, respond.” It sounded like he was losing his patience as well. Clearing her throat, Dash quickly scooped up the tiny com and forced her best colt voice she could muster, “Uhm, this is Angel three, reporting in. Over.” “Angel three, we’re reading a problem with your jammer, what’s going on up there? Over.” Dash glanced at the still-sparking wreckage of her recent carnage and bit down on her lip as she tried desperately to come up with an excuse, “Oh, uhm, it must’ve shut off when I bumped into it, no worries; I’ll have it back up and running in a jiffy, over.” She cursed under her breath as the voice on the other side didn’t seem to be buying it, “I’m sending a tech up there; you just keep an eye on the streets, over.” “Uhm, negative on that,” She looked at Fluttershy who seemed to be reflecting the panic she was feeling quite well, “I can get this thing working again. It’s fine, I’m fine, how are you?” Fluttershy stared at her friend slack jawed in shock as she silently begged her, why, why would you say that, “Uhm… I’m fine… I guess… I’ll just, get that tech to you right away… Out.” Fluttershy could muster only one word from her stupefied condition as she stared unbelievingly at her oldest friend, “Why?” Dash gave an annoyed grumble and stomped the tiny comlink under hoof, “Ugh, was a boring conversation anyways.” Her attention returned to the grenades they had found; it wouldn’t be long before they had company. Fluttershy in a near panic moved closer to one of the broken-out windows, “Rainbow Dash, we have to go before they find us.” She desperately pleaded with her. “Hold on, I think if I just…” As she fiddled with one of the switches on the orb it suddenly started humming angrily like the one back at the ruins, “Oh buck, I think I figured it out!” Tossing the orb along the ground and activating its brother, she did the same with it. Both Pegasi quickly made for their exit just as the sounds of boots on the stairs could be heard. Venturing a glance behind her, Dash found herself staring into the visor of the dispatched tech as he made his way into the clock tower. A devious smirk came across the daredevil’s muzzle, “Sorry pal, but I DID tell’em not to send anypony.” Leaping from the window, the pair of fliers quickly swooped upwards towards the clouds, leaving the confused trooper to wonder what all that was about. All too late, he noticed the final warning beeps of the explosives near his feet. In a field some ways outside of Canterlot, the would-be merchants sat with their emptied cart staring at the city in the distance with uneasy gazes. It’d been almost an hour since they dropped off the explosive-laden goods and made a hasty escape to wait for word from the rest of their group. Each dealt with the tension in their own way: Applejack seemed content to pace back and forth, casting an uneasy glance every so often at the regal city. Rarity had been looking over the “profit” she had made at the Deathwatch’s expense, while Pinkie simply sat with the detonator in hoof, flipping the safety cap on and off the button as if tempting fate to cause chaos before it was intended. Applejack couldn’t help but shoot the posh Unicorn a glare as she examined the credits she’d been given, “Ah can’t believe ya’d do somethin’ so low-down, Rarity.” She barely batted an eye at the comment as she held one of them up to the sunlight, trying to figure out just how much they were worth, “I was merely playing my part, dear. As one of the mercantile class, even you must understand that a profit MUST be made. If I hadn’t asked for payment they might have suspected us.” The farmer found it hard to argue with the dress maker’s logic as always but, “But it still don’t feel right; ya still tricked ’em inta payin’ ya while slittin’ their throats… Besides that, who knows where that money came from? Blood money don’t bring nothin’ but bad luck.” She rolled her eyes at the superstitious idea, “You can stop trying to brow-beat me over it; I already feel awful for the deceit, especially after stopping to actually talk to them.” She looked sadly at the small pile of galactic currency before her, “Sergeant Garlan seemed like such a gentlecolt, it is truly a shame to meet him under these circumstances.” Behind them, Pinkie continued flicking the safety cap back and forth. She was lost in her own mind as the click created a continuous rhythm while she toyed with the simple-looking device. She honestly found it strange that something so small could actually be so dangerous. What kind of worlds did these Mandalorians and Deathwatch come from where the most horrible things could be so small and unassuming? Applejack watched Pinkie’s actions sadly as something slowly dawned on her, “So, who’s gonna push the button?” Rarity’s stomach began to churn at the thought of what that button would unleash when pressed, “You’re right; somepony is going to have to…” She let her words fall flat as it gnawed at her, “Hard to believe something so small is supposed to end so many lives. Not a choice to be made lightly.” Taking a deep breath the Unicorn sighed out, “I’ll do it.” “Hold on there, sugarcube,” Applejack quickly protested, “Like you said, this ain’t somthein’ to take lightly now, an’ Ah ain’t gonna let ya take the hurt fer this’in.” Rarity quickly locked eyes with Applejack; though she was mostly in control, there was a hint of rage in her sea of blue, “I appreciate you wanting to protect our feelings Applejack, but I think it would be best if I took responsibility for this,” It was clear from her tone that she was barely holding back the fear of what was about to happen, “You may be my physical superior, but mentally I feel that I am far better equipped to handle the ramifications…” “It ain’t ‘bout that an’ you know it!” Applejack snapped at her retort, “Would ya just let me take care’a this one? Please, Rarity.” She hung her head in shame, “Ah’ve taken one life already, ain’t a pain Ah want any of y’all to know how it feels…” Before Rarity could say anything in response, a loud bang rang out across the valley. Their eyes darted toward Canterlot, where a small plume of smoke could barely be seen, “What in the world was that?” The answer she got in return was another, louder explosion. Much like the one that rocked Ponyville from the Everfree Forest several nights ago as a ball of white consumed the gates of Canterlot. They could feel the rumble from the blast rattling through their bones and shaking the ground beneath them. Slowly and reluctantly, the pair cast worried eyes on the baker who had been holding onto the detonator this entire time. Her hoof was firmly pressing the button down as she watched this play out unblinkingly. This sadly beautiful ball of energy that consumed everything it touched. Slowly, Pinkie pulled herself away from the sight as it started to die down. Tears stained her face as she forced a weak smile, “That was the signal…” Torb gave his thrown-together army of volunteers and a small handful of trained fighters a quick once over. Part of him wondered how many of them would be coming back from this alive, less out of a feeling of guilt for what he was about to push them into, but more from a strategic point of view. He could take solace in the fact that at least their numbers will swell once they reach the slave cages. It was a proven fact after all: once you tear off their chains, they’ll gladly fight for you. Even die for you, their beloved liberator and savior. He was thankful for the few capable fighters among the Equestrians that he had. Though he found their armaments laughable and their armor to be more showy than effective, they at least knew how to kill. It was an interesting sight to see Tolik and his last remaining two defectors standing alongside this improvised force. Even stranger still was the sparsely armored Gallant standing proudly in his thrown together armor, flanked by a few of the surviving royal guards whom looked more than proud to be there. A loud rumble shook the ground as a bright white flash consumed the skyline towards the gates. Drawing his pistol, Torb pointed it in the direction of their target, “Forward! For Canterlot, for Equestria!” The city around them seemed to shake and shudder under the sound of the blast in the far distance. Windows above them shattered, and shards of glass began showering from above like a shimmering torrent of rain. Twilight huddled in close to her brother on instinct and reflex as a magical bubble incased them both to protect from the sheets of transparent razors. Kad and the others took little to no action to avoid the falling glass as it trickled uselessly against their fully armored forms. The Captain’s gaze shifted to the palace in the far distance, “Time to settle up, Teth….” As the world around them shook, Arkanna was certain the entire city was about to slide down the side of the mountain, “Jeez, what exactly did the Captain give them to detonate?” Kell barely stifled a bemused laugh as he brought his rifle up and headed towards the nearest entryway, “Less talking, more hunting; we got a mad man to catch remember?” With a quick blow from his shoulder the door swung open, Arkanna close behind him as he entered weapon at the ready. The pair of Pegasi had barely escaped the clock tower before its top had been turned into a smoldering match head. The blast wave aided their ascent quite nicely as they returned to the cloud-cover for safety; not a moment too soon, as a new, much larger blast wave rippled through the air. Squeaking in fear, Fluttershy cringed as she fought to force herself to stay airborne. Rainbow Dash’s gaze narrowed on the horizon, “Okay, time to hook up with the Private and Staff Sergeant!” She called back to her companion as they soared over the city with a thick wall of grey and white to keep them safe. An excited shiver climbed up the Pegasus’ spine as it dawned on her: they were about to win this thing.