//------------------------------// // Chapter 30: The battle Part 1 // Story: The Hacker Pwny // by Chetzi //------------------------------// The battle raged on, both sides taking heavy casualties. Dragons rushed in, roaring, and flipped tanks while swatting attack jets out of the way. Even though the dragons had thick skin, it wasn't thick enough to stop a bullet, just make it less lethal. The new shields the unicorns were making were now magnetic fields, in addition to making the shields more flexible, so the bullets would have a harder time breaking through. It was a large improvement over their glass-like shields that were designed to keep other ponies and swords out. I hacked into aircraft after aircraft, dealing destruction with each one. Eventually, the air force took note of this and started sending planes with real human drivers. This wasn't going good. I got up from behind a building, and looked around for a door inside. I found a back door on the same wall I was leaning on. I pushed open the door, finding the place looking clean, yet abandoned. The ceilings were really low, considering how I'm about twenty inches taller than the average pony. Everything looked like it was made for borderline midgets. Good thing I didn't have claustrophobia. I made my way up the oddly made stairs, and opened the door to the roof. Wind slammed the door open as I unlocked it. I ducked and walked out. The battle could be heard, though a lot more faint than before. I looked across the horizon, taking note of how the battle had somehow moved away about twenty meters. Meters? Why did I just think that? What the fuck am I? Canadian? No, lemme rephrase that. The battle moved about twenty-five yards away. Can the distractions! This is no time to be distracted. I shook my head, and sat down. I put my laptop on the smooth cement roof, and assessed the battlefield again. Tanks were being thrown everywhere, and jets got smashed into ground. The ponies had pushed the humans back somewhat, but the ponies were outgunned, outsmarted, outmanned, and rookies to warfare. Think, how can I get rid of all the human vehicles in one attack? EMP? Some kind of sonic wave that will flip them? That just might work, where's Rainbow Dash? Okay, she's nowhere in sight. Maybe I could do something similar with magic. I looked through specs on the tanks. They were an older tank, the M1 Abrams. A cheap tank that was mass-produced, still in use today. Strange, if the government is sending in old, cheap tanks, why send in so few? And, that reminds me, why is it just American military vehicles? I thought other counties were helping them, or was what I heard on the news total BS? No, that doesn't sound right. Let's see, based on the extreme cost of remaking the MTSC on a large scale, they most likely only made one. The other countries must be sending over tanks and others stuff to send to Equestria right now. I examined the tank closer, looking for weak points. It has a weak side armor, they often get flipped or destroyed with a bomb on the side. I closed my laptop, then put it on my chest. I got a running start, and jumped off the building. It was only about a ten foot drop. I rolled right before I hit the ground, deflecting most of the force forward, instead of on my ankles. I jumped back up, and took off in a dash towards Celestia's tent. Both her and Luna were outside the tent, watching the carnage of the battle. They both seemed surprised at seeing me human again. Celestia said, "This is not going well. We are losing." Luna just lowered her head. I said, "No, we aren't. Command the dragons to flip over the tanks first." Celestia nodded, and her horn glowed yellow, and I took note of the dragons changing attacks. Wait, her horn glowed... yellow? Wasn't it white last time? I think I remember it being blue once. She really needs it make up her fucking mind on what color her magic is. Even with the new tactics, it seemed like all hope was lost. Explosions caused dirt and blood to shower everywhere, for every human that died, about five ponies went with him. Dragons' flames did little to jets that just flew past the fire, and the tanks could withstand the heat. Time was in slow-motion as I watch dirt being blown into the air, guns being fired off, and ponies falling down, covered in blood. Luna said, "We need to retreat. We're not going to win this." I said, "Retreat to where? What happens if we retreat? They kill us later? No, we can't retreat, it would mean the end of us." "Not us, just Equestria. You're a human. I don't know why you're even helping us. I bet you're a traitor." "Don't go throwing blame around, it won't change anything. I just don't know what else to do, it seems hopeless. We need a miracle." Someone old said behind us, "And a miracle you shall receive." We all turned around, to see the village elder for the griffins. Behind him, on the sky, was a large army of griffins, flying at full speed and in heavy armor. They flew over us, attacking the humans in well-organized groups. I asked the elder, "Why? Well help us?" He said, "I owe Celestia." He turned around and walked away. Celestia mumbled to herself, "He couldn't mean that, not all those years ago. Such a long time, I wondered how he remembered." The griffins were fierce, proven to be quite the challenge for the humans. They were hard to shoot down, but if they did get shot, they wouldn't last long. The griffins brought a burst of morale and spirit, the ponies and dragons fought stronger. Dragons attacked isolated from each other, the ponies attacked in large groups, and the griffins swooped and clawed at things in small, but very coordinated teams. But even with the griffins' help, the humans still looked like they were winning. For every tank that got flipped or destroyed, three more seemed to take its place. Jets were flying in at a constant and rapid speed. What was I think, trying to protect this world? Nothing can match human firepower, nothing on this planet at least. Griffins were falling from the sky left and right. Dragon corpses seemed to fill in the holes left from missiles. I asked Celestia, "Could The Elements of Harmony help us?" She shook her head and said, "Friendship won't stop a bullet." Well, she's right. "What if... we released Discord?" Both princesses looked shocked at the idea. "He will help us if he wants an Equestria to live in." Celestia said, "No, I will never release him, under any circumstance." After what he did to the princess, I don't blame her. "What about... the changelings?" Both princesses were even more shocked. It was clear they weren't willing to revive or use an enemy. Damnit, I'm running out of options. I looked intensely over the battlefield, seeing muzzle flashes spewing everywhere. Groups of two pegasus each grabbed onto jets' wings and turned them, making them crash into the ground. A unicorn that was on the frontline, had blue and pink scruffy hair. Her coat was a pretty white, except for the scratches on it. She was leading an attack where a unicorn formed a protective bubble, with other ponies inside, went into enemy lines, and let loose the chaos. As soon as she turned off the bubble, various other ponies attacked the nearby humans with spears and tackling them. The attack only lasted mere seconds before the group was mowed down by bullets. Other attacks made little success, pegasuses that tried to drop sharp objects on humans were often shot down in a flurry of bullets before they dropped the cargo. The griffins' unpredictability of randomly swooping places prevented them from getting shot down instantly, but they still didn't last long. We can't retreat, the humans would just finish us off as we run. We can't stay, we're getting mowed down. We need to rethink this. Think, what is a bad thing for guns, but good for melee weapons? Close quarters combat. Manehatten is a crowded city, full of buildings. I told Luna, "Luna, yell at the army to get into Manehatten. The place is abandoned, and we need a change in battlefield." Luna nodded, and screamed in The Royal CANTERLOCK Voice, "ATTENTION EQUESTRIAN ARMY, RETREAT TO MANEHATTEN AND TAKE COVER, BUT RESUME FIGHTING!" The army quickly dispersed and ran behind the skyscrapers in Manehatten. The humans were surprised by this, and that gave the army just enough time to hide behind the buildings. Not too much later, the humans charged into Manehatten. The weakly built buildings couldn't stop a tank from rolling right through it. But the humans were split up, taking different paths into Manehatten. Celestia teleported us away from the city, but still able to see it. Humans were slow to react to spears getting slung into their face in the new battlefield. The ponies started using Guerrilla warfare, it seemed they were learning quickly to adapt to war. I noticed a larger jet starting to fly into the buildings. It was about ten miles off, but getting here quick. And all ground troops were running away, then the tanks were rolling out, and the jets had flown off. As the aircraft got closer, I could see it was a very large airship. Almost the size of a battleship. And armed to the teeth. No really, there was a shark mouth that was painted on and smiling on the front of it, and machine guns were in each tooth. It was being held in the air by two enormous jets and three huge turbines. Twin cannons that were about thirty feet long each, were clearly the main batteries. Except they didn't look like convention shell-firing guns, they had blue lights flashing up the barrel, like it was made to fire pure energy. Oh, fuck my life. It was a brand new type of attack, I don't think I can blow it up from the outside. I told the two princesses, "Celestia, Luna, try shooting a magic bolt that is combined with both your energy." They, nodded and crossed their horns. A multi-colored aura encased them, and a large, multi-colored magic bolt of pure energy shot out. I could feel the heat and I felt lighter from the energy lifting small pebbles in the air. I felt normal again, and the blast clearly took a lot of energy out of the two princesses. They panted and laid down. I followed the magic with my eyes, watching it strike the sky fortress head on. A wavy blue shield met the bolt as it made contact. They were locked in a power struggle as the bolt started to diminish. The bolt turned into a spark, and disappeared. The force field on the airship calmed down and turned invisible again. How the hell did they manage to make a force field? I need to analyze it. And the best way to analyze something, is to test it out. I told Luna, "Throw me." She did without question, and I was slung at the airship. Luna aimed with a curve, and I was at the top of the curve, the slowest speed possible, and I grabbed onto the ship. It was a smooth, but burning hot metal. My hands stung as I found a hole to grab. The wind whipped my hair in a rapid fashion as I pulled myself upwards. I looked down, the ground must have been about thirty thousand feet away. My vision started spinning as I realized how high up I am. My hands were getting drenched in sweat. They started to slip from the indent in the metal. It seems that organic cells, and things close to them, have the ability to bypass the force field. A knot formed in my stomach as my mind raced, trying to get out of this mess. I looked around, there was nothing else to grab, I was stuck there. What the fuck was I thinking? I must be going mad. My left hand slipped, and I dangled on the ship with one arm. I couldn't pull myself back up, not at this speed. Sweat drenched my forehead as I felt like I was about to fall. My right hand started to slip also, I was getting less and less of a grip. At this height, I would die before I even hit the ground from the velocity. My blood would boil at terminal velocity for this height. In this case, it really is going to be the fall that kills you, not the ground. I heard someone faintly yell, "Hold on, I'm coming!" I turned toward the source of the sound, and found something I did not expect. Bentley was riding Rainbow Dash, catching up to me. As they pulled up, next to me, I yelled back at them, "Nice to see you, how exactly am I supposed to get on?" Bentley said, "You're not, catch." He tossed me a small, spherical object. I grabbed it with my free left hand, and looked at it. It was flashing red, and was painted black. "Mini-EMP pulse grenade. Stick it somewhere, and hop on." I pulled the pin, shoved the grenade into the indent I was holding onto, and jumped as best as I could. Bentley caught my right arm, and pulled me up. Rainbow grunted and said, "You humans are heavily, try losing some weight." Chuck said, "I've been trying so hard to fit into that new phone case. I was sure I lost at least half an inch." I forgot all about Chuck, he was still in my pocket. Wonder why he's been so quiet. Rainbow flapped her wings harder, propelling all of us forward. The airship fell behind us and a large ripple of blue energy could be seen in the force field as the EMP went off. The ripple calmed, and it looked like nothing had happened. This won't be easy. I screamed over the wind, "We need to get inside of that thing if we're going to stop it. Rainbow, drop us off at the top of that thing." "Then what," Bentley said," they shoot us down? Is there even a door on that thing?" "Create one." "That doesn't solve our problem of getting shot down." "Fine, let me think. Land near the princesses." Rainbow Dash looked tired from lugging both of us around. Pegasi have a much lighter bone structure and can't hold much weight. Knowing Rainbow Dash, she's most likely already done more than most pegasus could have, and won't last much longer. She roughly landed next to the princesses, and I fell off her back. She panted and tumbled over, her chest rapidly moving. She needed a minute to rest. But when I turned to the princesses, I found more than just them. I found The Mane Six, also. What are they doing here? Twilight came up to me, and said, "I figured you could use help. And I already told them about you being human. So what exactly is that large thing in the sky?" I guess a small team would be most suitable in this situation. To get inside, I would need to hack the door access and- Pinkie jumped on me and said, "Ohhhhh, a human! They're so cute and soft and what are these weird thingys on their hands and why are they wearing such strange clothes and what's with the short hair and where's their tail and why don't they smell like candy and why are their eyes so small and their head sooooo oddly shaped and, " she took a deep breath, "I think they're aliens! I've always wanted to meet aliens! Can you shoot lasers from your eyes? What about your hands? And what's this thing do!" She booped me on the nose, then ran her hooves over my face as she said, "Do you change colors for different emotions?" My face was getting red from Pinkie annoying me. "What if you were sent here to destroy Equestria, but became good and then befriended all of us and-" I shoved my right hand into her mouth. She continued to talk, though she was muffled and I couldn't understand her. I calmly said, "Stop. Please." She nodded, I took my hand out, and she got off of me. I stood back up, brushing off dirt on my pants. "Please don't ever do that ever again." Pinkie smiled and said, "Okay dokey lokey!" I brushed my hand through my hair, returning it to the normal state. I looked over the Mane Six again, Rarity looked intrigued, yet somewhat disgusted. Applejack seemed interested. Pinkie Pie was her usual super happy state. Twilight looked eager to help. Rainbow Dash picked at the dirt, waiting for action. Fluttershy was... uh, where is Fluttershy? I asked, “Where’s Fluttershy?” Applejack jerked her head backwards, then took a sidestep. Fluttershy shivered in a ball. “She’s scared of aliens.” Twilight told me. She won’t be much help... unless... I shouldn’t do that to her, but if I can bring out Flutterbitch, she just might be the powerhouse I need. I turned my head, and looked at the airship. We didn’t have time to form a plan, the airship was approaching Manehatten quick. Because of its large size, it only looked like it was going fast. It was only going, maybe seventy miles per hour. Most of its energy was being put into keeping it afloat. Just making it fall from the sky won’t work, it likely has many backup ways to stay up, and even then, it would do a lot of damage from the shockwave it would create when it hits the ground. Manehatten would be destroyed. So, I gotta steal it. This won’t be easy, but then again, is anything I do? I turned my head back to the Mane Six and said, “Here’s the plan...” I sat on the grass, my laptop on my lap. My fingers dashed across the keys as I attempted to create a hole in the force field. It only needs to be about three inches in diameter. The only problem, the network the ship is using is an isolated bubble, no Internet signals escape it. Or, at least that’s what they planned. There is no way they can make a network bubble that big. A very faint signal escaped the ship, a signal coming from someone’s cellphone. I used that as a proxy, and placed a program on one of the shield control computers. The program should give me just enough power to redirect the energy enough to form a vulnerable part. To get the person to start the program, I disguised it as a common thing on computers, Microsoft Word. Someone was on the computer, typing away something on it. I sent a command, and made MS Word crash. The person clicked on the MS Word icon, expecting the program to open. It didn’t, instead my program opened. A command terminal opened, spewing out green lines of code. I redirected the energy flow away from the bottom, making the top of the ship form a blue layer around it, leaving a very small, centralized hole that has no protection. I did a quick fist-pump at my victory. I gave the thumbs up to Twilight, who was standing next to me, and she nodded. She held a small, laser-cutting device that should penetrate the airship’s aluminium hull. With a flick of her horn, she teleported the device onto the bottom of the ship. The device popped open, sticking onto the metal hull. Two spinning black arms came out, and shot red lasers in a circle. The metal panel spit out sparks that lit up the area. The plate fell off, leaving a hole just big enough to cause the force field to dissipate because of the way energy loses power due to concave electromagnetic currents and- I'm boring you aren't I? In layman's terms, the energy funnels outwards and becomes useless because of science. Well, enough science, let's continue the story. I got up from the grass, and slung my laptop over my back. I hooked it into a strap, and turned around. Rainbow Dash stood at the ready, almost begging to race off into the airship. I nodded, and she fluffed her feathers. Rarity floated a sharp gem into my hand, I would use it later. I stuffed the thin but long gem into my belt. I turned my head to my right, expecting Fluttershy to be there. But, of course, she wasn't. Oh well, I don't need her, for now anyway. I trudged over to the cyan pony, and put my leg over her. I grabbed onto her neck, and I burst into the air. I leaned down, gripping her neck tighter. Her multicolored hair shifted around in in short, quick, motions. I wasn't scared of heights, but until you ride a pegasus at near Mach one speeds, really high up, with nothing to keep you safe but a neck to hold onto, don't judge me. Oh yeah, and try speeding toward a giant-ass futuristic airship filled to the brim with weapons and not getting the least bit nervous. On a pony. That has rainbow hair. Yeah, that's what I thought. Now, shut up, and watch me kick this ship's ass. Rainbow Dash hovered beneath the hole, and I climbed in. I pulled myself over, onto the hard rubber floor, and panted. I will never do that again. I looked around me, I was in a black winding hallway. Small orange LEDs dotted the path, forming a uniform line. I must be in a maintenance hall. Nobody will come this way unless there is a problem. Since there's no alarm, I know they didn't detect me. There was a low rumbling sound, probley from an engine that isn't too far away. I took a step forward, then continued down the hall. After about twenty yards, I came across a fork in the hallway. One had five doors, four on the walls, and one door at the end. The over way just had more hallway. There weren't any labels telling me what the doors lead to. Only one way to find out; I walked down the hallway with doors, and put my ear on the first one on the right. It was silent. I slowly pushed open the door, watching the dim light from the floor spill into the dark room. All that was in the room, was a few boxes and containers of cleaning supplies such as bleach and various other cleaning agents brought from major brands. To anybody else, this would look like a useless pile of liquid, but to me, this was a dangerous batch of chemicals, making everything from acid to bombs to a glue that will stop people in their tracks. I slipped inside, and looked at the labels on the chemicals. After a few minutes of mixing and pouring, I made a neural-paralyzer, it should make people be conscious, but not able to move or talk, for an average of thirty minutes, depending on their blood pressure and reaction speed along with their immune system. Then I made three small balls of chemicals, that when they reacted with oxygen, they formed a thin shell, that would break when thrown on the ground. They will make a very loud sound, akin to a bomb going off, and a large amount of black smoke, when broken. I guess becoming a chemist was a good idea after all. I'll tell you about me becoming a chemist later. I stuffed the marble-sized balls into my pocket, and poured the paralyzer juice into a makeshift squirt gun. A simple splash would sting like a bitch. I held the squirt gun like a real pistol as I left the room. The hallway still buzzed with a low energy sound, and was void of people. I creaked open the door on the other side of the hall, to find nothing more than an empty storage room. Well, that was uninteresting. I heard a quick gush of wind as I pulled my head back, not from my motions, nor from the door. It came from behind me, like someone swung something made of metal at me. The cold object connected, leaving the world spinning, and the ground to come crashing into my face. A dark cone started to encase my vision, and I got a glimpse of the person who hit me. It was some thirty something tall, well-built man with a scar on his check. His eyes were firce, ready to kill. I heard him say something in a gruff growl, "He's horrible at stealth, I could here him from the damn mess hall..." The sound faded out as I lost all feeling in my hands. Just need to press... button. With the remaining strength I had left, I forced my hand into my pocket and fumbled around for the button that would start part two of the plan. The man took notice, and stomped me in the ribs. I lost conscience after that. "He should be calling in Twilight by now," Bentley said, to himself. He turned toward the Mane Six, and said, "I think he might be in trouble, though that's very unlike him." Pinkie jumped into the air, and grabbed imaginary floating letters that only she could see. She held this sentence in her mouth, 'The cold object connected, leaving the world spinning, and the ground to come crashing into my face.' She then spit it out on the grass and said, "Silly billy, just go up a paragraph. Something cold whacked that noggin of his. And some super-duper scary human was there!" She pointed to the words on the grass, that only she could see. Bentley, seeing Pinkie as somehow knowing everything by not even pretending to obey physics, took what she said seriously. He told Twilight, "Twi, I need you to start phase two, Neon's in trouble. After this amount of time, the force field should have lost enough power at the bottom for you to be able to teleport inside where Neon is." Twilight said, "Okay, I won't fail." She glowed purple, and popped into some random hallway in the bottom of the ship. She had no clue where she was, the ship's electromagnetic waves must be throwing off her sense of magic. She watched carefully, avoiding making any sound. Not easy, since she has hooves. Back to Bentley, he looked up at the ship. The massive air vessel was right next to Manehatten, but weren't firing off guns. He wondered if they're trying to use the main energy weapons. Must take a lot of charging. Bentley brought the radio to his face, and told Twilight, "You need to hurry, the main cannons are charging. Find Neon, tell him about this, and stop them."