//------------------------------// // XVIII - Assault On The Dreadnaught // Story: Mortal Coil // by Reeve //------------------------------// Sufferthorn and I walked through the streets of the Merchant District; she walked rapidly and kept her eyes focused dead ahead while her ears swivelled back and forth nonstop. In all my interaction with her she had never worn any clothing or symbols of authority, nothing that would imply she was such a high ranking member of the Rebellion, not that it was necessary when everypony knew your face. It was probably for that reason, among others that she was draped in a heavy leather cloak, completely obscuring every inch of her body. On top of that her face was now powder white and her mane a vibrant blue thanks to a temporary dye job, although it did little to hide the scowl she wore. We walked in silence, which bothered me. I had no desire to make conversation with Sufferthorn, she had made it pretty clear that she didn’t like me and I wasn’t exactly fussed on her, but I thought that we might draw less attention to ourselves if ponies looked over and saw what they thought were two friends chatting during their morning stroll. What to talk about was another matter entirely, I didn’t need to know anything about the mission and I knew it would be foolish to discuss it beyond the confines of the barge. Instead I decided to ask her about something that had been on my mind for a while now. “So… Baby Blue,” I began casually, remembering her code name. “I’ve been meaning to ask about your brother.” Sufferthorn shot me a glare which was the signal to any sensible pony to back off. “Is there…” I continued regardless, trying to find the most tactful way of putting my question. “A reason he can’t… you know, talk?” “Yes, there is,” she replied in a curt voice, turning her eyes forward once more. I continued to watch her in the hopes that she would continue, she clearly had no intentions of doing so but when she caught my expectant look she gave a low growl before speaking again. “He had his tongue cut out!” she snapped. “Oh…” I uttered, I could feel the blood draining from my face. “Was it during a…” “Yes it was, now drop it,” she confirmed, predicting I was going to say ‘mission’. “So how can you understand him?” I carried on, clearly not being a sensible pony myself. “Earlier it was like you two were having a whole conversation and all he had to do was look at you.” “He is my brother,” Sufferthorn reminded me through gritted teeth. “We have been together our entire life, it doesn’t matter if he can speak or not, I know what he would say if he could.” “You two must be close,” I pointed out. “I have a sister myself, although I don’t know if I could ever do what you two do.” “We’re here!” Sufferthorn exclaimed, cutting me off and drawing my attention to the manhole cover in the deserted alleyway we had wandered down. “And not a moment too soon.” Crouching down, Sufferthorn pulled a crowbar out from under her cloak and immediately cracked the manhole open, the heavy metal disc posing absolutely no challenge to her. Once she had it shifted she gave me one look to indicate that I would be taking the lead. Kneeling down, I slid myself into the narrow hole and began my decent into the sewer tunnel bellow. The metal rungs that were fixed directly into the damp brick walls only went down so far, leaving me to leap off at the bottom and land knees deep in freezing, rushing water… at least I told myself it was only water. “Oh lord,” I muttered in disgust as the stench hit me. “Quit your whining,” Sufferthorn commanded, leaping down beside me. “You’re the one who wanted in on this so desperately.” I didn’t respond, as much as I wanted to bite back. Instead I lit up my horn, illuminating the semi-circular tunnel around us for several metres. Sufferthorn pulled her cloak off, throwing it up to hang on the lowest ladder rung as an indicator of where we entered from. Beneath it she was wearing a tight fitting, black combat suit, decked up in leather straps and sheaths bearing various tools and weapons, including my own sword and daggers which she tossed over to me. Catching them with magic I began strapping them on while Sufferthorn reached into her bag and drew out a spherical object. “Here you go,” she said passing me the first one while she fished out two more. I took the small bomb in my magic and examined it for a moment before storing it away in my own bag. It was very small, not much bigger than an apple and seemed to be made from clay, or at least the outer shell was, I couldn’t begin to fathom the chemical mixture inside. Once they were all in my bag I looked back to her as she began to explain how to use them. “Very simple, just throw them with enough force,” she explained. “They’ll go off almost as soon as they break open, so make sure you’re nowhere near it when it does. The blast radius isn’t huge so don’t expect these to take down the Dreadnaught on their own, if we’d had more time we could have obtained something more sophisticated… and destructive, but right now they’re all we’ve got so use them strategically. Also be very careful while they’re in your bag, if they break in there while you’re wearing that thing you will die.” I suppressed the urge to gulp, not wishing to show any weakness to Sufferthorn. It was times like that I wished I was more adept at magic, I’m sure there was some kind of spell that could have created a force field to protect them while they were on my person. As it was however I would just have to be especially careful and not get myself blown to pieces. “As you know I will not be going in with you,” she continued as we began walking down the tunnel, the water sloshing around our legs. “If you can manage to do this quickly and quietly, great. I’m only here as back up if shit hits the fan and we end up having to fight our way to the object. Are you clear on what you need to do?” “Yes,” I answered firmly. “Do you remember the layout of the facility?” she asked. “Yes,” I repeated, feeling a little bit like a soldier. “Do you want to pussy out yet?” she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. “No sir!” I said, the reply slipping out before I could help it. We both stopped dead in our tracks, Sufferthorn looking as awkward as I felt. I could feel myself growing red when she next spoke. “Let’s just pretend that didn’t happen,” she said, not meeting my eye as she continued forward. It only took us five minutes to reach our destination through the sewers, which I was immensely glad for considering there was only so much of the smell I could take before passing out. Our destination turned out to be a dead end, or at least that was what it looked like to anypony who didn’t know that the brand new underground extension of the fort lay just behind it. Sufferthorn strode up to the wall and mounted the stone shelf that allowed her to stand free of the churning water, I was very glad to join her there where I resisted the urge to look at my boots and see how filthy they were. Sufferthorn immediately began busying herself with searching for a weak point in the wall, I simply watched on without a clue what it was she was actually looking to find. After a short moment however she stood up, brought out her crowbar a second time and began driving it into a particular part of the wall, steadily shipping away at it until a small hole had been formed. Once done she drew a fourth bomb, the last one she had left after giving me the other three, and placed it snuggly into the newly formed hole. “Stand clear,” she ordered just before dropping a small metal disc onto the stone shelf. We both hopped off back into the water, which made me grimace, and backed up a few metres before turning to face the wall once more. Giving me a quick look and a nod, I turned my attention to the disc she had left on the ground. Dimming my horn, I began to charge up my magic, not for any fancy spell or anything, just for a quick magical discharge fired straight into disc. Once zapped by the blast of magic, the disc lit up blue, the same colour as the magic I had just pumped into it. A wave of blue burst from the disc and spread out, creating a small dome of magic around it which began steadily shrinking even once it was fully formed. “Anything?” Sufferthorn asked. Maverick had explained this life detect trinket earlier, so I knew that only I could see the magic it was releasing, and would therefore have to relay any information to Sufferthorn. “Yes, two,” I reported, seeing the blue outlines of the ponies clearly through the solid wall. “They’re standing still behind the wall.” Sufferthorn nodded, it confirmed what we they had figured from the documents. Typhoon knew the sewers provided possible entry points and had mentioned in one of his letters about posting guards by them. Sufferthorn drew the small crossbow she had strapped to her back, already loaded with a single bolt, the only one she needed. Pointing it directly at the wall, she held steady, waiting for the moment to let it fly. I had lost track of time myself, but she seemed calm and patient, and sure enough after only a few minutes of waiting and aiming we could hear the distant rumbling. The noise quickly became deafening as the water levels around our legs began to rise higher, before the sewer levels could finish replenishing, Sufferthorn took her shot. As intended, the bolt hit the bomb and wall was blasted apart, but the sound was almost completely drowned out by the activity all around us. Without hesitating a moment longer lest we be swept away in the much stronger flow, we hurried forwards and mounted the stone shelf once more, striding through the newly formed passage way into the underground facility of Fort Mule. The two guards I had detected lay against the opposite wall, hardly moving, their heavy armour seemed to have protected them from the blast and the shower of bricks. Luckily the room we found ourselves in was deserted beyond the pair of unconscious ponies, while Sufferthorn busied herself with them I made my way over to the door and peeked out. The next corridor was empty, so without waiting for Sufferthorn to remind me I stepped out and closed the door behind me, it was time to get this sabotage mission underway. The facility was built similarly to the corridors of the main fort, mainly constructed from brick but also with the addition of metal supports columns every few metres. The corridor was thankfully empty, which we had expected since the documents I had stolen indicated that very few Liberators even knew of the underground's existence, and therefor they didn’t have many soldiers they could put on guard duty down here, although the ones they did were surely the most loyal to the Typhoon’s cause. I darted as quietly as I could down the corridor, pressing myself flat against the wall when I reached the first door I needed to enter through. The doors down here were all heavy bulkheads that took a considerable amount of force to open, they were also difficult to hear through, but since I only had the one life detect trinket, pressing my ear up against it was my only option. I could hear various muffled noises, hissing and grinding, it sounded like there was a steam train inside. Beyond the strange noises I could just about make out the faint sound of voices, only two at a guess but there could be more just not saying anything. I had memorised the map to the best of my abilities, I knew there were alternate routes to my destination, but this one was the most direct. I hadn’t been told to avoid ponies, the exact opposite in fact, there was a reason I had been required to bring my weapons with me this time. Taking a deep breath, I charged up my magic once more and once I was prepared I released it straight at the door. The force was enough to smash the door wide open, allowing me to sprint in and head butt the only guard in the room who had been unfortunate enough not to be wearing his helmet at the time. There were three other ponies in the room, but they were all wearing blue overalls and cowered away from me whenever I looked their way. The room was a small workshop according to the blueprint, and it certainly appeared to be, even if I couldn’t name a single one of the machines I could tell just from looking that they were busy modifying parts for the Dreadnaught or one of the other siege weapons. These ponies were probably just technicians, hired to do a job, nothing more. Rather than buck then into unconsciousness as Sufferthorn had suggested I do earlier to anypony I encountered, I reached into my bag and pulled out several cable ties. “Sorry to have to do this to you all,” I began, pulling out my sword and indicating with it for them all to move over to the wall. “I’m just going to tie you up and then I’ll be on my way, you won’t be hurt and I’m sure somepony will rescue you all later.” None of the three technicians argued as they lined up against the wall, their backs to me. I was lucky none of them were unicorns, otherwise tying them up would have been a complete waste of time. Once they were all lying on the ground, incapable of moving and spread out enough that they couldn’t free one another, I turned to one of the noisier machines. While I had no idea what it was doing with the sheets of metal that were being funnelled into it, the pistons on it were making quite the racket. Reaching down I turned the control dial up to its maximum, the pistons began pumping even faster and the noise they were creating would drown out any calls for help the technicians might try to make. Now that I was done in that workshop, I made my way to a second door in the corner opposite where I had entered from. There was another exit, a large shutter which I knew would take me straight to the main floor of the factory where I would find the Dreadnaught, but I had one other stop to make before I made my way there. Beyond the door was a stairwell, the steps themselves being made from sheets of steel mesh which clanged loudly beneath my boots no matter how quietly I tried to ascend. Once I was at the top, I listened at the door and found the next room to be mercifully silent. Opening the door slowly this time, I peeked through the gap to confirm that this room was indeed deserted. Edging in I found myself inside a small warehouse like room, stacked from floor to ceiling with crates. As I trotted through the narrow walkways between the crates, I glanced at the different labels on them, they contained various items from nuts and bolts to jars of chemicals. Not wasting any time I made my way to the next door but froze as it began to open from the other side. I jumped behind a crate just as a guard backed up into the room, dragging a trolley behind him. He walked right down the corridor, muttering something to himself as he looked for a particular crate. He seemed busy with trying to find whatever he had come in for, I figured I could slip out through the still open door without him noticing, I was wrong it turned out. Just as I reached the door I heard him shout out behind me, I spun around just in time to see him charging towards me, drawing a metal baton. I rolled to the side, avoiding his swing and ending up smacking myself into the side of another crate. A little bit dazed, I scrambled to my hooves and ran for it as he took another swing at me. I ended up back where I had entered from, facing the guard as he made his careful approach, weapon raised. I drew my sword with magic, and idea springing to mind as I recalled my fight with the stallion who had tried to capture Applebloom. Just as intended, he didn’t notice the crate just above his head that was also enveloped in my blue aura and was slowly wiggling its way off the stack. To my dismay he glanced up just in time to see the crate coming down and sprang forward out of harm’s way, the silver lining was that he ended up flat on his stomach a mere metre in front of me. I closed the door behind me, peering in one last time to make sure the unconscious body was out of sight. I was on high alert as I made my way down the corridor; I only had two more rooms to pass through before I reached my first objective. When I reached the first room I found the door already open, but was surprised to see it deserted. The room was some kind of office with a large conference tale dominating the floor; it was littered with various scraps of paper and plans. The door at the end of the office was also open and I could see the next staircase through it. I made straight for it, but stopped in my tracks when my curiosity got the better of me. On the wall to my left was a long window that stretched from one end of the room to the other, it was shielded by a metal shutter, but the controls to raise it up were right here on the sill. Just like the last shutters in the workshop, these ones opened straight out to the factory floor. I had of course seen the Dreadnaught in the designs I had stolen, but I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Walking back to the centre of the room, I turned to the shutter and flicked the switch to raise it. A huge proportion of the underground facility was just the main factory where everything was being constructed, the workshops, laboratories and storage rooms around the sides were only a small fraction of the extension to the fort. As a result the factory itself was colossal, bigger than the original Fort Mule, perhaps even bigger than it with its above ground extensions. So when you consider how massive the room was, it should give you some idea how daunting the Dreadnaught was that it almost filled the entire space. My jaw dropped, my eyes widened and I’m pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a second or two. The Dreadnaught had appeared fearsome in the blueprints, but nothing could ever have prepared me for the reality of what I was looking up at. It really did resemble a giant boat with regards to shape, although it would be a boat that was made from metal, and instead of masts and sails it had four stubby wings, two on each side with propellers embedded in them. I was on the third level from the lowest point of the facility, and even then I had to crane my neck to see the top of the beast. The Dreadnaught was clearly unfinished; the side I could see still had large gaps which dozens of ponies were currently working on patching up with cranes and cherry pickers. The holes in the hull did give me a convenient look into the interior of the ship, and while it’s deck was probably three times the area of the Siren, it was much deeper resulting in around four floors below the deck for loading troops and siege weapons into. Speaking of which, if the factory wasn’t already packed with the Dreadnaught, it definitely was when you took into account the dozens of machines that were assembled on the factory floor. There were cannons, catapults and ballistae just for starters, all mounted on wheels. One machine that caught my gaze was something that resembled a metal canoe with stiff wings; there were about a dozen of those in the area I could see. I wondered if there were maybe some already loaded on board the Dreadnaught, the ones I could see were already enough to wage a very one sided war, but the idea that there could be more hidden just out of sight really scared me. Finally I looked up at the ceiling, the thin divide between this facility and the fort above. I could see the mechanisms from this side, the metal arms that would tear the fort asunder and allow the Dreadnaught to ascend into the skies over Mule before beginning its journey across the ocean to Equestria. Tearing my gaze away from the horrors of the factory, I flipped the switch and began quickly making my way out of the office before the shutters were even fully down. The stairs I came to brought me much higher than the previous ones, I guessed I was at least two more floors up from where I was. It made sense as the foreman’s office would need to have the best view of the Dreadnaught. The next room I arrived in was another office, although the design of it made it look like it belonged above ground. It looked like a secretary’s office, although the idea that they would need one down here was a bit bizarre, but it did serve as an antechamber for the foreman’s office, the door to which was lying open. I could hear voices in the office beyond, or more precisely I could hear one voice talking over the other one. Crouching down, I crept as quietly as I could towards the open door, peeking around the door frame. One of the ponies was a middle-aged stallion with an olive coat and a receding grey mane, he was wearing a white lab coat and delicate spectacles, I guessed he must have been the foreman. The other pony was no stranger to me; I only had to see his military uniform to know it was Typhoon. “What you’re asking me to do…” the foreman began in a distressed voice, trying to find the right words. “It is impossible! We would need a monze at ze very least.” “You have one week!” Typhoon bellowed back at him. While the two were focused on each other, I snuck into the room and tucked myself under the foreman’s desk so I could no longer see either of them. “Impossible!” the foreman repeated, he had a strange accent I never heard before. “You aren’t listening to me; we can’t do it in zat lengz of time.” “Then just do whatever you can do!” Typhoon exclaimed. “It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be able to take off and stay in the air long enough for us to reach Equestria. Our enemies know what we’re planning, they infiltrated my office just yesterday and stole all the plans, it’s only a matter of time before they strike this factory and everything we’ve worked on will have been for nothing. We must make our move first!” “We will do our best,” the foreman began in a calm voice. “But if zis ship goes down in the middle of ze ocean you will lose everysing.” “Then you had better do more than your best,” Typhoon replied in an obviously threatening manner. I could just imagine the foreman shrinking beneath the angry pegasus commander. Before he could respond however I heard the rush of hoofsteps and somepony come into the room, panting loudly. “Sir, we have a problem,” he began breathlessly. “What is it soldier?” Typhoon questioned, I could hear the faint worry in his voice. “The fort is being attacked!” the soldier replied in a panicked voice. “It appears to be just one pony, but he’s decimating our forces.” Typhoon swore loudly and I felt the desk I was hiding under shudder at he smashed his hoof down on it. “You have one week,” Typhoon reminded the foreman. “Make this happen or I will find somepony else who can.” With that he stormed out of the room, the soldier in tow. After a short moment of waiting for Typhoon’s hoofsteps to fade away into the distance, the foreman let out a shuddering breath before falling to the ground, that was when I made my move. Stepping out from under the desk, I drew my sword and pointed the tip of the blade right between the pony’s eyes and I stood up straight in front of him. “Not a sound,” I warned in a low voice that I hoped sounded threatening. He stared up at me with wide, fearful eyes, his mouth moving but no sound coming out. “Y… you…” he managed at last. “You are ze one who stole zee plans? You are zee enemy of zat madman?” I hesitated at that, could it be he was no real ally of the Liberators? “Are you a Solar?” he asked, almost eagerly. “Solar?” I repeated, confused. “No, I’m with the Rebellion.” “Maverick?!” he exclaimed suddenly, his eyes lighting up. “Please you must get me out of here.” “I’m here to destroy the Dreadnaught,” I replied sternly. “Of course, of course,” he said hurriedly. “I can help you with zat, and in return you take me to safety, yes?” “You would betray Typhoon?” I asked warily, to which the foreman spat on the ground. “Zat man is a monster, and a maniac to boot,” he gave off. “Please, you have to believe I never wanted to help him with zis. I sought it was just a normal job, I didn’t know what I was getting into.” I considered what he was saying for a moment before lowering my sword and allowing him to stand up. “Who are you?” I asked curiously. “My apologies Miss,” he began in a shaky tone. “My name is Cogs, I was a professor at Arclight University… until I was let go.” He injected quite a lot of bitterness into his voice at those last words; I quickly guessed he must have been fired. “I knew your leader, Maverick,” he continued. “He and I were good friends.” “So why didn’t you go work for him?” I asked. “Why choose the Liberators?” “My dear I never chose to join ze Liberators,” he insisted. “I came to Mule under zee pretence of getting into teaching. I had been lied to, and once I was here zey would not let me leave, not until I built them…” He drifted off, turning to the shuttered window identical to the one in the downstairs office. Flicking the switch, the shutters rolled up to show off the Dreadnaught once more which he gestured at. “I had written a paper years ago,” he explained. “Proposing zis kind of technology, but it was all seoretical… until Typhoon forced me to make it a reality.” “So you’re a prisoner here,” I summarised thoughtfully. “What about all the other workers?” “I imagine zey have no idea what any of zis is intended for,” he replied. “Zey probably do it wizout question as zey have no job ozerwise.” I stood in silence for a long moment, contemplating my next move. Stranglethorn wouldn’t be able to keep Typhoon occupied forever, so I needed to destroy the Dreadnaught and get out of here quickly. “You have to believe me,” Cogs began again. “I have no hatred of Equestria, my sons live zere, I was given zee award for science and innovation by Princess Celestia herself. I do not want to help zem do zis, but I cannot leave here on my own.” “Alright,” I said at last. “My priority is destroying the Dreadnaught, but once I’m done I will escort you out of here with me.” “Oh sank you, sank you!” Cogs exclaimed ecstatically. “But before I do anything I need to know some things,” I interrupted. “Is there anypony here besides you who knows how to build these machines?” “I am ze only one,” he assured me. “But zey may be able to use zee plans even wizout my help.” “Where are the plans?” I asked, to which Cogs responded by gesturing all around us. “Eversing is in zis room,” he explained. “Typhoon was keeping some sings in his office, but zey were stolen… by you I am guessing.” “Yes, now collect every scrap of paper in this room and put it in that bin,” I ordered, levitating a small trash can into the centre of the room before tossing him my box of matches. “Then burn it all.” Cogs caught the matches but stared at me in disbelief. “Z…zis is my life’s work,” he stammered. “Couldn’t we take it wis us or…” “No,” I said firmly. “Burn it all or I’m leaving you here.” Cogs gaped for a few seconds before sagging his shoulders and getting to work. I felt bad crushing him like that, I know I would hate to have a week’s worth of work destroyed let alone my whole life’s, but I couldn’t allow that kind of weapon to fall into any pony's hooves, even Maverick. It didn’t take long to gather up all notes and documents, crumple them into balls and pack them into the waste paper basket. Once Cogs was satisfied there was nothing left behind that might allow the Liberators to continue building even after he was gone, he struck a match and reluctantly set the whole lot alight. “Thank you for that,” I said genuinely, hoping to cheer Cogs up a little. “Now I need you to tell me how I can destroy the Dreadnaught. I have three bombs, is there anywhere I can use them to cause enough damage?” “Let me see ze bombs,” he requested, I passed out to him very carefully which he examined before tut-tutting. “No, zees will do no good on ze Dreadnaught. Zere are places on ze ship that if you blow up will cause a chain reaction, but wizout remote detonation bombs you would never get clear of it in time to survive ze blast.” “Well what do you suggest?” I asked in dismay as I placed the bomb back in my bag. “I do have one idea,” he began thoughtfully. “Tell me, have you ever flown before?” “Do I look like a pegasus to you?” I asked, giving him a deadpan look. “Foolish question, I know,” Cogs said, waving a hoof dismissively. “What I’m trying to get at is zat you can use one of ze gliders to destroy it.” “Gliders?” I repeated, completely at a loss. Cogs walked back over to the window and pointed out at something, as I went and stood by his side I could see him indicating the metal canoes with wings I had seen earlier. “It is a flying machine, anozer one of my own designs,” he explained, beaming with pride. “Very simple to operate, and zey are equipped wiz rapid fire cannons, you can shoot ze Dreadnaught apart from zee air. Luckily it is not yet completed, you can aim srough the gaps in ze hull as it is weakest on zee inside.” “Interesting,” I murmured, rubbing my chin contemplatively. The factory floor was covered in guards and technicians; it was going to be hard getting to one of the gliders, even harder to avoid accidentally shooting anypony once I was inside. “Is there anyway of clearing the workers out?” I asked. “I’d rather not hurt anypony if I can avoid it.” “I could set off zee alarm,” Cogs proposed. “ze guards will stay and try to stop you, but ze rest should run for cover.” “Good,” I said, making my way over to a door next to the window that would lead me out onto a platform in the factory. “Once I reach the glider, or if I get spotted, raise the alarm.” “Of course,” he agreed, looking a little hesitant. “But once I do zat you won’t have long before Typhoon returns.” “Then I’ll have to work fast,” I replied, my hoof resting on the door handle. “Once you do that, fall back to the workshop. I’ll meet you there and we can head to the exit together.” “Which Workshop?” he asked. Once I explained the path I took to get here and was sure he knew the room I had meant, I turned the handle and opened the door, stepping out onto the steel mesh platform overlooking the rest of the factory. Keeping low, I started moving down each level as quickly as possible, I encountered one guard on the way down who I managed to subdue quietly before moving on. Once I was on the concrete floor of the factory, I ducked behind a cannon just as a guard walked passed. Peeking out I saw that there was a nest of gliders a couple dozen metres away from me, however there were several guards either standing between me and them or close enough that they’d see me approaching. Pulling out one of my bombs, I levitated it while looking over in the opposite direction. There was one siege tower in particular that had nopony standing close by, so I lobbed the bomb straight at it with my telekinesis. The effect was quite satisfying, the noise of the explosion was loud enough to be heard over most of the machines in the workshop so it got plenty of attention, and even if it didn’t the sight of the tower collapsing on top of a row of catapults definitely would have. All the guards in the room immediately sprang into high alert, most of them hurrying over to the fallen tower to investigate while the rest all began looking around themselves for the perpetrator. Seeing a brief opening I darted out from behind my cover and began moving towards my goal, unfortunately my luck had run dry and I was spotted almost instantly. The guard cried out that there was an intruder, the alarms began blaring and the attention of every guard was on me. With my options reduced to sprint for my life or wait to die, I chose the former and began galloping as fast as I could to my target before the guards could catch up to me. It seemed however that the guards had no qualms about utilising the war machines around me; it was only a lucky glance to the side that allowed me to see one of them driving towards me. It was some kind of cannon, except it had six long, slender barrels all grouped together. They were all pointed directly at me, spinning slowly but steadily getting faster. I dived out of the line of fire at the last second, taking shelter behind a cherry picker from the rain of tiny projectiles that clanged off my cover. When the noise of the firing ceased I risked a look out, the barrels were choking up clouds of black smoke and the soldier sitting up behind them was desperately hammering down on the controls to get them to fire again. Before he could fix whatever went wrong, I drew my second bomb and tossed it over to him, hitting the cannon directly on the end of its barrels. The whole machine shook with the force of the explosion and the barrels were blasted to bits. The soldier quickly hoped off and made a run for it before the whole machine went up in flames, whatever it ran on appeared to be highly flammable. With the way clear once more, I got up and ran the rest of the way to the gliders, the soldiers were closing in and one had already reached my destination before I had and was waiting for me. I drew my sword with my hoof rather than by magic, almost instinctively, it turned out Applejack had a point. The guard took a wide swing with his own sword which I leapt to the side to avoid before I slashed out with my rapier, slicing his swinging hoof. His weapon clattered to the floor and he fell to his knees, clutching his injured hoof in agony. I left him be and turned my attention to the glider before any more guards could reach me. There was a small hollow inside for the pilot to sit, shielded by a glass bubble which I opened with my magic. Clambering in I sat myself into the pilot seat, buckling myself in on the advice of a sticker on the dashboard showing one pony correctly secured with the seatbelt and another smashing through the windscreen. Cogs hadn’t been lying when he said they were easy to operate, the controls literally consisted of an on-off switch, an accelerator pad that my right leg was pressed against, a dial on the dashboard for measuring speed, and a wiggly stick between my legs for steering. Finally there was a large red button on the top of the steering stick which I assumed was for firing the gliders weapon. As I flicked the switch and felt the glider hum to life, a guard threw himself on top of the windshield, hammering his armoured hoof down on it to try and break it open. I began to push down on the accelerator and the glider started moving straight forward, slowly at first but picking up speed as I pushed the accelerator further in. I tilted the steering stick back towards myself and felt the whole machine begin to tilt up off the ground, the guard looked shocked but clung on regardless, which was going to end badly for him. Once I was up in the air, flying level with the window of the foreman’s office, I turned the stick sharply to the left resulting in the guard sliding off the body of the glider and dropping to the floor below. I flew a loop around the factory, taking in the Dreadnaught from all sides and firing a few test shots at other siege weapons on the ground, smiling when they exploded or were simply ripped apart by the hail of cannon rounds. I wasn’t sure how much ammunition I had, so rather than waste any more time I set straight into targeting the Dreadnaught. While my shots did little more than ding off the exterior hull, those that got through the large gaps could be seen doing severe amounts of damage to the inside of the ship. After several minutes of flying around, taking pot shots into the ships interior and spinning to avoid attacks from the siege weapons on the ground, I was sure that I was getting somewhere. Cogs had mentioned parts of the Dreadnaught, that if destroyed could cause a chain reaction. As I saw the rear end of the Dreadnaught explode in a mighty wave of fire and shrapnel I was sure I had struck the place he was talking about. As I pointed myself towards another gap I pressed down on the red button, but this time nothing happened, the glider had run dry. Still, even without ammunition I could still do some damage, it would just be riskier is all. The Dreadnaught was an airship, but like a regular ship its hull was curved so that it could not sit flat on the ground without keeling over. To prevent this, the ship had been constructed inside a frame of sorts including metal struts to keep it propped upright. Pushing the steering stick straight forward, I went into a nosedive while bringing the glider closer to the side of the ship. Before I collided with the ground I pulled the stick back so I was almost skimming off the factory floor, forcing many guards to dive out of my path. Giving a quick prayer to Celestia, I directed the glider straight at one of the metal struts and jammed my hoof down on the accelerator. The body of the glider flew right past the strut; the right wing however was snapped clean off as it collided. I felt my whole body get buffeted about as the glider crashed into the ground, spinning so fast that all I could see of the room was a blur as it skidded away off into the corner. The glider only stopped spinning when it forcefully lost its momentum by smashing up against a wall, causing my head to snap forward and right back again, leaving me dazed, in pain and thankful I had worn my seatbelt. I couldn’t make out a thing as my vision consisted entirely of blotches and splashed of light all around the factory, but the deafening sounds painted a very vivid image of the frame around the Dreadnaught giving out and the entire thing crashing down and laying ruin to all the other constructs on the factory floor. I was very thankful my glider had landed me in the very corner of the factory where I was out of range of the destruction. It took a long, drawn out moment for my senses to clear enough that I could tell what was going on around me. There didn’t seem to be anypony around me, I hoped the guards had had the sense to leave before the Dreadnaught came down, maybe they realised Typhoon’s ambitions weren’t worth dying for. Unbuckling my seatbelt and lifting up the windshield, gently so it would shatter over my head, I clambered out of the wreck of the glider. My legs felt like jelly as they hit the floor and wobbled to try and hold the rest of my body upright. As I tried to keep my balance I looked around at the factory and assessed my works. I couldn’t identify a single thing that had survived the Dreadnaught’s collapse, admittedly it might be a very different story on the opposite side of the factory, but I didn’t have time to go all the way around and destroy every siege weapon one at a time. The Dreadnaught was in ruins, blasted apart from the inside out, reduced from its terrifying glory to a flaming scrap heap. It would have taken them months and a lot more horsepower than the Liberators had to clean up everything and begin restoring it, but without Cogs or his plans it might never happen. I smiled at what looked like a mission well done before trotting off down the factory to the workshop I had arranged to rendezvous with Cogs. Navigating the mess was a little tricky, made all the more unpleasant when I caught sight of an armoured body that hadn’t got out in time. Over the continuing sounds of distant blasts and aching machinery I could hear the rush of hoofsteps and voices calling out. Either help had come for the fallen soldiers, or they were trying to flush me out, either way I quickened my pace to the third shutter from the end of the factory. Once there I spotted a pull chain which I immediately set about tugging on, every length I pulled down the shutter rising a little more. It was almost at the top when I heard the shout behind me, glancing over my shoulder at the way I had come from, my blood froze when I saw a familiar pegasus charging towards me, two halberd wielding guards in tow. Giving up on the chain I crouched and rolled forward under the partially opened shutter, finding myself once more in the workshop where I had tied up the three technicians. Neither them nor the guard I had knocked out were still here however, but Cogs was thankfully waiting by the door for me. “Hurry!” I ordered, standing up and sprinting over to him. He began opening the door, but he was surprisingly weak for an earth pony and it barely moved for him. Once I reached his side I reached out with magic and did it myself, but the short delay had been enough for Typhoon to catch up with us. He dived under the shutter just as I had, coming out of his roll expertly, pointing an odd weapon directly at me. It resembled a stout cannon held in his forelegs, the end of the muzzle flared wide so it resembled a trumpet. We both reacted at the exact same time, he pulled the trigger on the underside of the cannon, and I whipped my final bomb from my bag, which had miraculously remained intact when I crashed the glider, and hurled it right at him. I had been quicker; as a result the bomb collided with the fired projectile in mid-air mere metres in front of Typhoon. I didn’t wait to see if I had accidentally hurt him, or worse, I simply turned tail and fled out the door, dragging Cogs behind me. We galloped down the corridors quickly enough; I still remembered the route I had taken to get that far. As we approached the room Sufferthorn and I had entered through, I found the corridor littered with the bodies of Liberator soldiers who had been foolish enough to cross blades with the Marshal. Sufferthorn was kneeling down when we entered the room, catching her breath after the apparently daunting task of keeping our escape route open. “I heard plenty of noise,” she said as we approached. “Is it done then?” “Yes,” I replied, then I noticed her eyes glance over at Cogs. “He’s the foreman, he was being held against his will, I offered him protection.” Sufferthorn didn’t argue which surprised me, simply nodded, stood up and collected her weapons again. I gave her mine before we hoped out through the hole in the wall back into the sewers where the water levels had receded to their original levels again. Cogs briefly voiced his disgust, but when he saw that neither of us cared about the filth we were walking through he quickly shut up and followed quietly. When we arrived at the ladder and Sufferthorn retrieved her cloak, using it once more to cover herself up and hide our weapons, we began the ascent. Because the bottom rung was high off the water surface, we had to boost Cogs up together before Sufferthorn helped me up on her own. As I began climbing up I glanced back in time to see Sufferthorn leap up and catch the lowest rung, pulling her body up with ease. Once I was clear of the manhole and standing back in the alleyway I offered to help pull her up the rest of the way, she refused naturally so instead I just levitated the metal disc back over to cover the hole once she was out. “Right,” Sufferthorn began, letting out a long breath. “I think it’s safe to say everything went according to plan, let’s get back to the barge.”