//------------------------------//
// Having Fun Stormin' the Castle 
// Story: Walking in Mairephis 
// by Sunka 
//------------------------------//

“Are you sure you can use that?” Shining shouted back through his comm. They were doing lazy circles outside the base. Yards was strapped into the support harness under Shining. Shining wasn't that skilled with flight harnesses and it showed. Yards could only draw strength from Rhubarb Salad's example when he had taken her up in the same position.

The SMG Shining was referring to was strapped to his chest. Clips of incendiary rounds ran up his left forehoof. “I was certified on them, which is apparently more than what you did with this harness,” he answered.

The other members were simply hovering around the doorway to the fort. Hovering was one of the advantages pegasi had over harnesses. Astro and Starfall were at the door. Toffee and Messer were on either side of the door. Astro again rang the intercom buzzer.

“Hoof Scouts! We have thin mints!” he called at the mic. The speaker didn't even pop. “Huh, that usually works.” He sounded especially disappointed.

“This always works.” Messer tagged himself in and Astro took his spot at the flank. Messer began to apply the cutting cord. A sticky yarn of thermite augmented with a few enchantments, Messer peeled the wrapper off a short section of the cutting cord, slapped it against the closed metal doors, and traced a good sized circle with it. Cutting it to fit, he carefully stowed away the remainder before pulling out a lighter.

With a flash the door opened. As luck would have it, that was when Shining was coming in. “I'm going for it.”

“Oh buck!” Yards hugged himself. That hole was barely big enough for him to fly through and he had much more practice.

Shining missed the approach vector and clipped the left wing into the remainder of the door. The good news was that if they hadn't they would have slammed into the right hand wall of the corridor behind and died instantly. Instead they were flung cartwheeling into the security checkpoint. Yard's body wrapped around a steel beam and his barde bent protecting him. Yards started fumbling through a series of clips. First to free himself from Shining Armor, then to release the main body part of his armor. He had to hurry. The metal of his crupper had pierced his flesh and was digging to his kidneys. Hooves appeared all around him as the others arrived to try and disentangle them.

“Yards! Are you okay?” Toffee was starting to panic, but he couldn't talk. His lungs were refusing to fill with air. All he could do was nod and point to where the blood was coming from. Just once, would it be too much to ask to not get the crap kicked out of him?

Shining had apparently broken a leg and was having to hobble. Yards was too hurt to make any sort of 'momma' joke.

“Girls, first-aid, NOW!” Messer began shouting orders, taking over for the wounded leadership. They swarmed over Yards while he and Astro set about pulling Shining's leg back into place and splinting it.

“Don't forget to give him the shot.” Astro reminded over his shoulder. Absently Starfall nodded and pulled out a syringe. In her panic she was off by a bit and it went into his muscle and not his vein. Yards held back a howl of pain.

Having something to do was keeping them from panicking. They couldn't have any panicking, not in here. Focusing on something other than how horrible the situation was would help their brains be able to process the problems they'd be facing in here.

Slowly Yards put his hooves onto the floor and tried to stand. They needed to wrap the bandage all the way around his torso so it could stay on. That's when he noticed the floor was an ugly, industrial, beige, laminated tile. Well, that kinda made sense. It was a military base. Having a real floor meant earth pony logistics and unicorn technicians could move about freely inside once they were up. As the mares finished tying off the pressure bandage the shot started kicking in. Mhh, he tried to keep from swimming away from his body. It was too soon to go down, but the morphine and penicillin chaser was beckoning like a sandy beach.

Finding his Hock and Kestrel 789 he slapped the sling around his right fore leg’s knee and rotated the small gun to it's “safe” upwards/outside position. He nodded to the mares to do likewise. They had simple pistols for them to use, with conventional ammo. The reserve depot Shining had raided for their weaponry didn't have enough specialized ammo to go around. They'd been given a few pointers and some corrected stance measures, but they'd still never fired them; hopefully they never will.

Yards waved Starfall over to help Shining's group then sent Toffee to the hallway to keep an eye around the corner in case guards showed up. Yards started picking around at the remains of the security point. There had been a half wall. Behind that was a desk and pillow. There were a few office supplies scattered here and there. The only real “paperwork” were old magazines of various repute and doodles and scribbles of boredom. In the back corner of the tiny office was a locked weapons locker. If they wanted to they could get into it with some more cutting cord, but he wasn't really sure it was worth the time.

Still it wasn't his call. He turned to the mission commander. From the grin on Shining's face his shot was working too. Great. “Hey, Shiny Pants, you want to loot whore this?” He nodded his head at the weapon locker.

Shining shook his head. “Let's not do anymore damage to this place than we have to, just in case.”

Yards nodded back as they made their way to the corner.

“I don't see anypony,” whispered Toffee. Messer took point down the hall, his weapon out and ready. Astro was behind him and to his left. That way they didn't block each other's line of fire. The girls were cradled in the middle. They didn't have their weapons out for good measure. Better that they not accidentally shoot the guys in front. Finally the two leaders came up' making sure somepony didn't come up from behind them.  This formation protected the civilians as best as they could.  

The hallway turned left. Cautiously they advanced. As they went further away from the corner the light from outside grew fainter. There was only emergency lighting on, so it quickly became little islands of light in a dark sea.

“Messer, swap me,” Yards whispered over the communications horn. The pegasus moved back without delay as Yards moved up to take his place. Yards flipped his visor down and allowed the night vision enchantment to bring up the detail. With both Lunari up front the party was less likely to be surprised in the darkness.

The corridor made another sharp turn, this time in the darkness. The constant double backing was to make it more difficult for invaders. It was why they were only using short ranged weapons while inside here.

One more corridor at another ninety degree. This one also with a single light source on in the roof at the far end. There was a portal at the end of this hallway made of a huge valved door. This would be the first target for Plan C. The main base had to be ripped away from this corridor. Yards and Astro took positions on either side of the doorway. Yards pulled his weapon down and along his leg into firing position. Fear was creeping into his body. This was it. If their enemies were waiting, both of them would be dead before they got through.

“I've got armor, I'll go first,” whispered Astro. Yards didn't argue the logic.

Astro took a gulp of air and jumped through the door. Yards was right behind him. There was a flight of stairs leading down. There was just enough light to be able to see. The stairs led down to a landing then doubled back in the darkness. Messer began to apply cutting cord. Yards walked over to hand him a small explosive charge that would detonate the cable remotely.

Down the second flight they found another valved door as well as more stairs down. Slowly Yards turned the valve while Astro waited for the door to swing open. Again, Astro was through first, followed by Yards. The room was decorated in fifty year old finery. This level of the base was a large platter shaped structure. This half slice was designated as a lounge and storage area.

There was a large map of Equestria with little pins pushed into it. If Yards looked close enough he could see the Solari/Lunari crests to designate who was where. It was seeing it laid out like that that really drove home just how outnumbered the Lunari actually were. They never really had the numbers to be able to push their way foreword much. If Rainbow Dash hadn't been so rash in her attack and led to her route, the whole thing could have ended very differently.

There was very little stored here. What little there was looked like fresh tools, candles, cleaning products, emptied food crates and lots of ink, quills and paper. Somepony was looking to take a LOT of notes. Astro and Yards moved through the room, lighting a few candles here and there for the others. The rest of the team filed in quietly, gently. They began to work over the room, looking for any clues.

At the middle of the platter there was a central spindle that ran up and down both floors. There was a small hallway around it's circumference. That would be the next location for the detonation. Just as soon as the rest of the floor was cleared.

At the far side of the room were a few bunk beds. The blankets were fresh. There were privacy screens that appeared to be new, too. This was sign of recent occupancy. This was apparently where Moissanite was bringing in the new ponies.

The remaining half of the floor was split up into four quarters. The slice farthest from the door was the narrowest. Not only was it thinner it was shorter. This was the medical center. It was setup to handle sprains, aches and minor pain, not combat damage. The first aid kit here was new and appeared to be off the shelf. The rolling bed was left over from the war, however.

There was a door on the far wall. Astro opened it quickly. It was the Janitor's closet. The air burned of harsh cleaners. Apparently this was something in constant use. This slice was clear.

The next area was the largest remaining: lavatories and showers. Messer and Toffee reported that there were fresh supplies in there as well. All contained in a set of small lockers. There didn't appear to be any locks on them, however. A quick look through them showed an overabundance of different types of mane care products of both genders. Ultimately, there were no monsters in here.

Quick and methodical, Astro and Yards made their way to the far room of the floor. It was a power switching room. Here was the massive power control panels that controlled the energy for the station. There were a few replacement crystals in a corner for the old system that would burn them out fairly quickly. Yards gave the panels a once over to make sure the room was clean.

The final area was the cafeteria.  Shining and Messer swept through the pantries and refrigerators. It had a few chairs, some hot plates and a couple of large refrigerators. There was preserved food and things like alfalfa bars stored here, but nothing particularly tasty. This was the rally point all three teams met back in. This floor was clear.

Messer then began to apply the demolition charge to part of the central column.  To cause it to spin and twist on detonation. Nopony really wanted to talk while they set up their own suicide.

They then filed out of the level and down more stairs. At the bottom there was another valve door to their right and a security checkpoint to the left.

“The office should be down here. Do you want to check this floor or proceed to primary target?” Yards asked Shining.

Shining gave a pained look. “Let's check here. We don't know if we'll be able to come back.”

“Bug hunt,” groaned Messer

“Oh come on, we'll go plant a fourth charge, make sure it goes boom.” Yards slapped at his shoulder. The Wonderbolt nodded.

The group walked into the bottom plate. This quarter was the command center. Dials and switches were all over machines. There was a door on the far side that led to the office and a door to the right.

“I don't get it,” said Starfall.

“'Don't get' what?” asked Astro.

Starfall waved her hoof. “This. What is this?”

Shining was attempting to levitate the lock on the office. “A hundred years ago the biggest threat to Equestria was other armies. Things like invasions from the Griffon Kingdoms, or The Minotaur Mesas. These missile silos were designed to wipe out huge swaths of armies or cities. About fifty years ago the threat began to change and became more like small, kabalistic groups. Like errant demigods and changelings. These things were expensive and hard to maintain, so we started phasing them all out.”

“Why would somepony want to wipe out most of a city?” Starfall was aghast. For once it wasn't Yard's job to explain things. He had his own job to do. He led Messer through the door on the right into the communication room. This was a joke. The old technology of message delivery was, to say the least, cumbersome. It was amazing just how quickly it had changed in the last seventy-five or so years. Still, most civilian uses were just barely above this. The princesses really should let go of the technology. The ignorance and inability to communicate had ultimately been the cause of the Civil War, surely letting ponies communicate would prevent such a thing from happening again.

There was a door on the far wall. That area would be filled with the old crystal power storage system, and the harnesses unicorns would wear to provide power for the base. They needed to know how much was there to gauge where and how to set the bonus charge.

The room was full of fully charged power crystals. That made no sense. How could that have been? This place was supposed to have been abandoned for a while and as far as he knew there were no missing unicorns.

Yards was doing some quick math when the rest of the group started calling him. Quickly he pointed out where to set the other charge and trotted to the office. Astro was watching at the door out of the control room. Shining and the mares were on the other side of the desk, looking at a ledger.

“Can you make anything out of this?” he asked, spinning the book around to face him.

Yards began to look over the numbers. It was some sort of equation. It was a set of individual problems that rolled into each other, tracking certain variables. There also appeared to be dates. The numbers tended to be similar. In fact they were all the same percentage, it was only a difference in one variable.  The person doing the math seemed to just take half of the number then add it to a running total. There were a few others that were added to it as well. One looked like hydroxylapatite. Wait, where did he know that compound from? He backed away from the book. Oh Luna's mercy, no. Those percentages...

“They're rendering ponies,” was all he could whisper.

Quietly Shining closed the book and slipped it in his armor. Secondary objective was complete.

They made their way down the long corridor to the actual silo. They'd laid the final round of explosives at the beginning of the tunnel. If all came to naught, then that command center would collapse into the silo, smashing everything together in a horrific pyre. Equestria, at least, would be saved.

Some lights were on, but not nearly all of them. It was just enough to get by. Yards and Shining walked quietly down the steps. The pegasi flew close by, hovering in silence.

As they made their way closer, they could hear singing. Empty silos apparently have very good acoustics. The voice was deep, and tended to hum often. Only occasionally breaking into a word or two about “worms crawling” or “greasy grimy gopher guts.” Then they could hear the splashing.

“Was it tasty?” the voice asked. “While you enjoy that I'm going to need a new sample.” A crane above them whined to life as a fifty-five gallon barrel wrapped in chains fell down into the darkness below them. “It doesn't hurt, does it?” The voice began to cackle.

“Tss,” Astro pointed at a platform down below them where a white coated pony was working the crane's controls. They made their way as quickly as they could without making excess noise. The hoist pulled the drum up to the level where the pony was and he moved over to band it shut; humming to himself the whole while.

Moving back to the controls he swung the barrel to the ledge on the other side.

“Plan 'A'?” asked Astro.

“Maybe we can get him to surrender.”

Astro sighed before flying closer to the mysterious stallion.

“Ah, you are the gentlecolt with the thin mints?” the stranger asked.

Astro gave his best disarming smile. “Ah, sure.”

“Sorry, I've been quite busy. I just haven't had time to see to you.”

As they got closer Yards could make out more of the owner. His white coat shone with a luminosity the belied the darkness of the silo. His mane was done up in a giant poof, followed by tight, horizontal curls along the side. It was an aqua color. His tail was very short. His cutie mark was a graduated cylinder.

“Yeah, I bet. Why don't you come with us and tell everypony about your success?”

Moissanite grinned at him. “Oh, they will soon know of my success.”

“So you plan on unveiling...” Astro waved a hoof over the edge.

There was laughing, but it wasn't from Moissanite. The others looked at each other.

“Soon we will be introduced to the world. It's just not yet time.”

“But...”

“Shhhh.” Moissanite put his hoof to his lips. “It's so convenient when ponies deliver themselves.” He lifted his hooves in the air. “Who's hungry?” There was a great cheer behind him as a wave rose up over the rail.

Yard's mind stopped working. He refused to accept what was before him. The reports never really talked about what smooze looked like. He'd assumed it was something kind of milky, slightly viscous liquid. What rose up was...grape yogurt with googly eyes and mouths that sang.

Messer screamed out in defiance, emptying the clip of his SMG in a strafe across it. The incendiary rounds pierced a pair of eyes. The mouth associated with it belched and the two eyes became four. The new set migrated over and a new mouth joined the chorus. WHAT. THE. BUCK.

The great wave crashed over them as everypony screamed and huddled together. There was a pink glow surrounding everypony that only added to the other-worldliness of the situation. Shining was groaning under the effort. “Hey, everypony, close in. This isn't as easy as it looks.”

Faces stared at them from every angle. They could hear the voices singing outside the shield. What passed for one of the faces opened wide. Another face emerged from it's mouth and licked the shield. Then it disappeared back into the original mouth. What the buck? Yards mind refused to accept that they were going to be killed by a purple dairy product.

They were dead. There was nothing they could do. Shining was doing the best he could to save everypony, but that was all he could do. The ammo had been largely ineffectual. This was it. Yards reached for the detonator remote. They were going to die, at least it would be for something. Toffee bumped into him, crowding in terror.

“I'm sorry Toffee,” he said.

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. “I-I love you.” 

He nodded at her.  "I love you, too."

Starfall was beside her. “Starfall, I wish it was different.” Starfall was whining in terror too afraid to pay attention.

“It's been real, Messer, buddy.” Astro was already at acceptance. Messer snorted. He was still in defiance.

Yards was in the bargaining phase. There had to be something. What? They couldn't do anything without it knocking out Shining's shield. That meant they only had one chance. The grenades might make a quick hole they could flee through. Especially if they could onion layer the shields. Pfft. Even if he had his horn, he didn't know the spell Shining was using. Without his horn, he was an earth pony, just like three fourths of his family. Wait. He was an earth pony like his family. He was an Earth Pony!

Toffee was still clinging to his side. He reached over and gathered up Starfall between them. The white's of her eyes were prominent. “Starfall!” he shouted at her. “Starfall, Look at me! It's going to be alright.” Panic made her look at him. He smiled all the hope he could at her. He had a plan. But he needed everypony to join in. Now wasn't the time for blind panic.

Crushing her to the two of them he started talking in a soothing tone. “I've got a plan. Do you trust me?”

Weakly she nodded.

“Are we friends?”

She nodded again.

“What about Astro, you've been hanging out all week. You like him as a friend too, don't you?”

She nodded, still confused. Toffee gasped. She realized where this was going.

“Starfall, I'm really glad you joined us. It meant so much to me that you switched out a two day run so you could be at my birthday party.”

“Well, yeah, of course I would. That's what friends do, right?” Starfall smiled weakly. She was trying to find any solace she could in her situation.

“Astro, Messer, it's been a real privilege getting to serve with you two. Astro, you're okay in my book. From letting me try and spare Delta, to sharing a beer, you're a real decent pony. Messer, thanks for helping me realize when to stand up for something.”

The two stallions looked at each other slightly self-consciously, before grinning weakly at the open display of affection.

“I mean it,” Yards continued, “ if we get out of this, first round is on me.” He held out his hoof for them. Astro took it. Excellent. Yards held on to it. Now for the hard part.

His neck throbbed. He knew what it was. This hate, it wasn't him. Starfall had been right. This was a poison created by Shining's sense of betrayal when Yards had walked away to protect his own princess. It wasn't a part of him, it didn't belong in him. It was in his life. He could either let it consume him and kill everypony else, or he could take ownership of his life. He chose life. “Shining, I'm sorry.” He felt the dam inside break. “It's my fault. I shouldn't have let it get this far.”

“Hey, you're a good soldier. Yeah you gave me some lip but you always did what you thought was right, even when it conflicted your orders.”  Shinning wasn't looking.  He was far too busy straining to keep everypony alive as long as he could.

Yards reached out and touched Shining, flooding him with the combined power of the other five ponies' friendship.
_____________________________________________________________________________

The hospital in Mairephis wasn't that bad. They'd kept Yards and Shining for observation for 24 hours, done a little surgery and they were released just in time for the Summerbration.

The libations had been pouring all day, and by the blessed night things were getting crazy. To Yard's surprise Starfall and Toffee had signed up for the wet mane contest.

Messer was there as well. He was easy to spot with his prosthetic wings and throngs of admirers. Astro wasn't far from him. He had an eagless under each wing and seemed quite fond of their attentions.

Shining was there as well . Most of the crowd around the stage were young stallions. His size difference and baring caused them to give him a wide berth. They really didn't recognize him. Here a hero every bit as important as Messer and Astro was, yet nopony seemed to notice him. It was kind of sad.

The announcer for the contest pushed a full raincloud over the stage as a mare walked under it. Yards chose to walk over to the unicorn.

“Hey,” he started awkwardly.

“Hey,” Shining acknowledge.

“So, how about that Fire of Friendship. Pretty crazy, huh?”

“You could have warned me.”

“Yeah, see, this is kinda what we need to talk about. This hostility between us. It's not who we are.”

“I know. You did a big thing there, kid.”

“Yeah. I really am sorry about what's happened between us and all, but I don't know if it will ever be like it was before.”

“It never will. But that doesn't mean it has to stay as bad as it is. You've got potential. Maybe soon we won't be CO and XO, we'll be equals.”

Yards smiled. Starfall was next under the spray. Her mane was short, but it clung tightly to her curves. The crowd hooted their drunken approval.

“So, to tolerance?” Yards held out his hoof. Shining took his eyes off the stage, looked at his hoof and accepted it.

The rain came down on Toffee. She'd upbraided her mane for this and it swept down. The crowd went road apples crazy. Blushing she started playing to the crowd. Yards smiled, to see his friend begin to come out of her shell. She trotted around in victory, her head high. Yards cheered.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The engine's crystals had lost their charge several miles ago. That was okay. They had gotten the cart down out of the cloud. Moissannite could pull it the rest of the way to the stupid lackeys. Those foolish earth ponies. So blinded by hate that they would volunteer to carry the barrels of weapon grade smooze to the Crystal Mountains. There they'd be “dealt” with by his master's own ponies. He was needed elsewhere for other plans.

Adjusting the harness slightly he pulled the cart over the hill where the rebel earth ponies would be found.
There was a small knot of ponies milling about, breaking down a camp. In the middle was a green mare with a fedora, directing the chaos. Moissannite pulled his cart up to the crowd and unhitched himself.

“Are you-”

“Mantis,” the mare finished for him. She then barked out a command to a subordinate.

“You're supposed to be delivering my cargo.”	

“Change of plans. We've got a much more lucrative target.”

“You agreed to to this,” he growled. The plan was changing. He hated it when plans changed. It was bad enough he'd lost his laboratory to their explosion.

Mantis glanced over and looked at the cart. She sighed in annoyance. “Rock Lobster, Mayfly, Earwig, go ahead and take this load where it was supposed to go.”

“Three? It was supposed to be guarded by six!” Three wasn't enough, he needed one for each barrel, but it would appear it was all she was willing to give him. Others would have to be found.

“That's all we can spare. Besides, it's not like anypony goes that far north anyway. They're not going to need guards.” She walked away, done with their conversation. “Alright everypony else, let's get ready to head to Sweet Apple Acres!”