Zebrica
20km northwest of New Timbuktu
Arzew Refinery
12:03am
Rainbow had been waiting for hours, her only "entertainment" being the two guards in front of her target. From what she could see they didn't pay much attention to the sky, instead keeping their gaze on the road leading to the building (and maybe the floor every now and then). She would count off as one patrol would go out of site, before another of of march in and take its place. Sadly, the intervals between shifts seemed very short. Her wings just hadn't felt right since she had come to this Celestia forsaken country. Seeing that she still had some time to kill, she took out a small pouch, before frowning; it was nearly empty. She sighed, before snorting the last of the blue dust within. Inhaling deeply, she savored the sweet burn, before throwing the bag over her shoulder. With the exception of the few electric lights that shone through the large glass windows of the concrete building, it was fairly plain looking; like a large grey block with a number of iron pipes sticking out of the structure. The chimneys were belching smoke into the sky, but for the most part the refinery was dormant. Even from her spot she could smell the foul fumes, the place tainting the airspace. She growled softly, imagining all the machines that this refinery powered that turned her once proud home into a floating slum.
With a smile, she watches the current guards run off, apparently seeing something in the opposite direction of her. This was her opening! With a small running start, she takes off into the sky, trying to be as quiet as possible with her flapping. Wouldn't be very fun if one slip blew her cover... She already feels some fatigue after flying over the chain link fence, causing her to curse softly at her weakness. Still, she was able to slip into one of the large opened windows. She landed on one of the concrete ledges just under the windows, before taking a look around. The refinery floor was lit by some electrical lamps hanged from the ceiling. There were countless pressure gauges and valves that were connected to massive tanks and furnaces. Several unused catwalks hung a few feet below the light bulbs, casting long shadows across the lit up ground.
"I don't even know what I'm going to do. If I was Twilight I would at least have an idea of what I'm doing..." She said. She fluttered down to a nearby furnace, heat leaking through the imposing cast iron bars and washing over her. "What am I looking for...?" She noticed multiple gauges attached to the furnace, labeled with sciency words like 'celcius' and "Psi". She clumsily fiddled with the valves for a bit until she noticed the flames in the furnace getting larger and the temperature rising on the gauge. "Heh..." She continues to fiddle with the other gauges, looking for some kind of reaction. The gauges ran wild, the needles on them flickering back and forth...
A number of the gauges were simply labeled open/close; she flipped them, causing the pressure in the furnace to continue to climb steadily. She shifted her attention to the tanks of crude, before flying over to them. Looking them up and down she found what she was looking for; a connection with a few loose bolts that were improperly fastened. A small trickle of that dark gold dripped out of it. She flew over to the weak connection and smiled, before giving it a strong buck. She nearly yowled in pain as her hoof connected with the metal pipe. but managed to suppress it before hitting it again. Biting back the tears she continued to buck the pipe until it broke and started to spew crude all over the floor. She noticed a faint, familiar buzzing sound, but shrugged it off; it was probably from all the equipment.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?! The furnace can't be heated up so quickly!" She turns to see a Zebra charging towards the furance.
"No!" She tackles him into a pipe, cracking his skull against it. He slumps to the ground, blood covering the back of his head and staining the ground red. "Nonononono... Wake up come on!" She shakes the zebra as a pit in her stomach starts to grow. "Come on, you just hit your head! I do it all the time; wake up!" He doesn't answer; his chest doesn't even move. She starts to hyperventilate and backs away from the corpse.
Her panic attack was interrupted by a loud bang, followed by yells of surprise. "I have to leave!" She took off again, but her exit was hampered by her wing getting caught in a window pane. Her face was painfully smashed into the glass, and she muffled a scream. Suddenly, the furnace started to moan and creak as a number of rivets burst from the furnace like bullets. The skeleton crew operating the facility were ripped apart by the shrapnel, and Rainbow was forced to watch the gruesome spectacle. Tears stream down her face, as burning hot rivets piece their skin, their faces were torn to pieces with there wounds being cauterized by the red hot rivets. The crude on the floor was ignited as the fire started to grow with a number of the pipes starting to burst sending shrapnel flying.
"Agh! The furnace is gonna blow; we have to-!" The stocky zebra was cut off as the shrapnel severed his head from his body in a mess of gore. The other wounded zebras stopped what they were doing to stare in shock.
"We have to get out of here! Run for it!" The crew ran to the exit, desperately extinguishing the fires blocking their path.
Rainbow's ears were assaulted by the madness, but she couldn't look away or even cover her ears; she could only watch as the crude covered floor was engulfed in flames, steadily spreading closer to the zebra who was already being cooked alive from the sheer amount of heat. Their fur was gone, and their flesh bubbled and churned. Even as she lost sight of them in the flames she could still hear their screams from her high perch. Not even the chaos around her could blot out that awful, animalistic cry of pure pain and terror! "T-this isn't what I wanted! Somepony help!" She screamed, the flames coming closer to her ensnared form. She could already feel the heat in her wings, once again forcing the poor Zebra into her mind's eye. "Not like this, not like this!" She finally managed to pull her singed wing from the window and frantically begins to flap, even as the noise grows louder. Her ears ring, the buzzing grow ever louder, before a voice cuts through the noise.
"Up there! A Pegasus saboteur!" A guard shouts at her, but Rainbow ignores him, instead focusing on finding the buzzing noise. Climbing out the window, she saw the source. Her eyes widened...an airship was nearly directly above the refinery! Suddenly, her ears were assaulted with new force as the main furnace detonated.
Her ears screamed at her, and she could feel wet liquid dribble down from her tortured eardrums leaving her nearly deaf.
"I-it wasn't supposed to be like this... I-I just wanted to fix things!" She flew back to the resort, leaving a burning wreck behind her. Her mind churned with thoughts, and her eyes were filled with tears.
She barely hears a CRACK from the edge of her distorted senses, as the zebra guards started to shoot at her with the rifles.Dazedly, Rainbow continued flying, gasping in surprise.Three bullets made there mark on her body; one for her leg, one to herside, and one just grazing the side of her face. She wobbles, barely able to keep herself afloat...
Zebrica
20km northwest of new Timbuktu
Above Arzew Refinery
HMS Fylgia
12:37am
The alarm sounded onboard the Fylgia. "Sir, the hull has been pieced! We have lost hydrogen cells 3 though 7! The refinery below us has gone up!" A short mutt yelled. The console in front of him was covered in flashing red lights, and a piercing wail came from a speaker set next to it. The group could hear loud pings all around them, as shrapnel bounced off the reinforced armor of the bridge.
"Where's fire control?!" Captain Ty Siouxpancic yelled, currently wrestling the wheel for control of the ship. "Dammit! The hull wasn't meant for this kind of trauma!" He opens one of the speaking tubes next to the ship's wheel. "Secure the VIPs at any cost!" He screams into the pipe, before turning away; he didn't have time to hear their affirmative. The ship shuddered, and an explosion sounded out. "Sir, we have lost our auxiliary fuel tanks! The fire is spreading to the main lines. The skeleton can't handle much more of this!" A loud snapping noise hit their ears, as the ship lurched. "Our back is broken! At this rate, we're going to fall apart!" The ensign's voice is joined by the screams of the dying and desperate from the speaking tubes.
"We will have to crash land! Is the VIP safe?" The captain asks, yelling into the tube.
"Yes sir!" The captain nods, before buckling himself into a chair. The rest of the bridge crew do the same, hanging on for dear life.
"Take us down!" He adjusts their course as the ship literally falls out of the sky. The dried, Zebrican grass below them bursts into flames, hit by embers from the fire engulfed ship. "Brace!" He screams as the plains below them rapidly approach. In the final moments before his ship crashed he sent out a silent prayer to the emperor to forgive them for failing to protect his favorite niece, before all was fire and death.
Zebrica
18km northwest of new Timbuktu
Plains
12:43am
Old John looked down the sights of his old trench gun as he spotted his target. He smiled; from what he had heard Pegasi were supposed to be quick little devils. However, his current target was disappointing, to say the least. The pegasus was barely moving one fourth the speed of a little dragon babe! He took in a breath, before holding it (didn't want to foul up his aim). He lead the gun a few feet in front of the target, letting out a breath before firing. It went plummeting like a rock, griffon shot eviscerating their wings. He smiled as he slung his old gun to his back and started making his way to his new bounty.
"Heh... taken down by an old priest..." The bloodhound lit up his pipe, revealing his scarred muzzle and yellowed teeth that could be seen through his missing cheek. Smoke curled up into the air, going around the side of his face and his wide brimmed hat.
He looked down at the pegasus (a female, she was!), noticing that her barrel was still rising."Still kicking...? I usually get more money bringing them in alive..." He uses his boot to slowly turn the unconscious pony over. Blood seeped from ruined wings, which were little more than stumps now, he also noticed she likely had to bullets lodged in her leg and one in her side. "Crap... must have some kind of major artery there..." He started to dig through his ratty dragon leather trench coat, before pulling out a first aid kit that was likely as old as he was. His voice started out in song, his favorite hymn from "Odes of Solomon", as he went to patching up his bounty. While he handled her more life threatening injuries.
Zebrica
New Timbuktu
Baraza Resort and spa
Royal suite
1:18am
Twilight sighed as she slipped deeper into the covers of the king sized bed. The bedroom she slept in was extremely luxurious, with a large desk, a number of beautiful landscape paintings, and even a telescope with lenses that were far more powerful then anything she thought possible. However, she spent very little of her trip in the room, only coming back after countless diplomatic meetings, dinners with officials, and the countless demonstrations that left her exhausted. Spike was curled up next to her, snoring softly under the silk covers next to her barrel. She smiled softly, bringing the sleeping drake to her side.
Seconds later, the door to the Royal Suite was kicked in by a group of pissed off Zebra marines. Several other crashes confirmed that this was being repeated throughout the rooms of her friends.
Twilight woke up to the screaming of her friends. Opening her eyes, she was met with dozens of rifles and Brens being aimed at her by masked soldiers. "What is the meaning of this?!" She screamed, holding Spike close to her. The Zebra's simply stared at her; she was unable to make out their faces through their masks.
"Sabotage and the attempted assassination of a Britanian Princess! Come quietly or we will use force!" One on the masked Zebras yelled. Twilight's eyes widened.
"You can't do this; I have diplomatic immunity! Why would any of us do anything to jeopardize our relations with both Zebrica or Britainia? Where's your proof!" She screams as she was thrown out of bed, Spike tumbling down with her.
"Ask your blue bitch of a friend!" One of the zebras shout before bringing the stock of his rifle down on her head. She couldn't even light up her horn before darkness fell over her eyes.
Britainia
Provence of Germany
Peenemünde Army Research Center
4:38pm
General Lutz rested in the observation bunker as he checked his watch to see when the demonstration would begin. He sighed softly as he waited in the concrete shelter, surrounded by his Lieutenants and the great Wernher von Braun, a brilliant Shorthaired Pointer.
"What can you tell me about your latest rocket, Von Braun? This site consumes a large amount of our funding from the empire. I don't have to remind you that there is a number of other projects that have had far more successful and could always use more funding..." He says calmly. Von Braun swallows, knowing that his project has yet to show a working rocket to the General.
"We have rectified the issue we had with the frame buckling under the stress of fight... We simply reinforced the frame with a tempered steel collar. As for the engine problems we have come up with an ingenious method of using the fuel to cool th-" he was cut off as the General lifted his hand to signal he had heard enough.
The general switched his attention to the landing pad. "While your solutions interest me I am only here to see what progress you have made with the project. I only care if your solutions have improved your success rate. Walter spoke highly of your designs. We worked closely together during the war, and I won't have him made a fool of." The general said as the V-2 was rolled out to the pad and prepared for launch. Von Braun gulped again upon hearing the threat.
The rocket's engine released a thick mist of ethanol and oxygen as a number of sparks came from the pad to ignite the fuel. Lute pulled his looking glass out to get a closer look as the engine was lit. Already the black and white painted rocket was slowly taking off and picking up speed. As the rockets altitude continued to climb a loud explosion echoed through the bunker.
"Has it exploded?" Lutz looked through the looking glass, trying to find the rocket.
"No, it has broken the sound barrier! I'm getting reports of it being seen and heard down range!" Von Braun shouted as he listened on the radio next to his chair. A giant grin split his face.
"Hmmmmm...faster then sound. Interesting... Let's see if it hits its target." Lutz said as he leaned back in his chair, giving up on trying to find the rocket using his spyglass. Silence reigned in the bunker as Von Braun listened on the radio. His grin suddenly widened.
"The rocket has made contact with the target. Nothing remains..." He said in shock, leaning back into his chair.
"Excellent. It seems I won't have to deal with the unpleasantness of having to cut your funding. I want the improved engine designs to be shipped to the London Nautica. I'm sure they will find your engines useful for their projects. I expect to continue to see improvements with the weapon, Von Braun. Don't disappoint me. Don't forget that Hans Kammler has been very interested in your project." He says as he gets up, leaving the shocked pointer behind as he made his way to his customized Mercedes-Benz 770 with black with tasteful bits of Crome. He sat on the crisp sea serpent leather seats. He remembered how he got it; him giving the order, depth charges sinking to meet the nesting serpents. It was comical to him when the auto manufacturer looked about ready to be sick when he told them to use the hide from one of the floating carcasses that washed up on shore to make seats. He sighed as the his chauffeur started the engine, leaving the launch site behind him.
"Sir, there's an urgent message for you on the radio, dire news from Zebrica sir..." The German Shepard said evenly as he drove.
Lutz opened the radio compartment between the seats, placing the headset on his ears. "This is General Lutz to Sicherheitsdienst respond..." He waited a few moments.
"This is Sicherheitsdienst responding. We have news of a possible assassination and sabotage plot at the hooves of the Equestrians. At 12:37am Arzew Refinerys furnace's pressure reached critical and took the entire refinery with it along with the night workers. Princess Martha's private airship was nearby at the time, nearly on top of the refinery. The guards managed to snag a photograph of the fleeing saboteur along with cerulean feathers littering the one of the nearby hills and a small pouch with traces of the drug known as spice. We have reports that a suspect fleeing from the general direction of the refinery was captured by a bounty hunter known as Old John. The suspect was a pegasus with crude on her hooves and a number of burn marks. The feathers found at the refinery match her wings, and she remains in critical condition at New Prosost prison in the medical wing. There is no question; the destruction of Zebrica's first refinery was at the hooves of an Equestrian. From what intelligence we have gathered the mare we have captured is known as Element of Loyalty, or Rainbow Dash. However she seems to lack any true military experience and was a drop out from the Equestrian Institution known as the Wonderbolts Academy, with unsatisfactory marks on nearly all of her classes with the exception of physical fitness. Our agents are scouring the site but it reeks of an amateur or untrained brute. She very likely had acted alone but we can't be sure since the Equestrian military seems to lack training and experience. It also should be noted that from our equine informants we have found that she holds a grudge against our machines and Equestrian Earth ponies. We have found that she worked for the Cloudsdale Weather Corperation, which was recently put out of business by our introduction of mechanized irrigation. She likely is just an obsolete worker who was looking for something to take out her anger on. We have secured the rest of the Equestrians and their drake in a secure location for questioning to confirm our suspicions."
Lutz rubbed his muzzle, trying to think. "What of the princess and the crew of HMS Fylgia?" He asked, pulling out his old flask and taking a long drink.
"The ship was lost along with nearly the entire crew... The princess lives, but she is in critical condition."
"...Excellent I want our plans to be pushed forward...start printing the propaganda for our allies and increase the intensity of the veil transmission in codename Kittyhawks quarters. I'm feeling nostalgic... I will be arriving at Isenstadt later tonight. It's time we visited the old Doctor." He leans back, switching off the transmitter. A grim grin came over his face.
Zebrica
Outside of new Timbuktu
Wadacobee Farms
11:32am
Mas looked over his "unofficial" cargo manifest, trying to figure out how he was going to get all of that equipment pass the Zebrican border. He placed the paperwork down on the table before getting up and stretching.
"I should have thought this through...how am I even supposed to get this equipment over the boarder?..." He pulls out his wine bladder, taking a long drink before trotting off to see what his people had come up with.
He trotted past a number of crates ranging from produce to arms reaching his little motor pool consisting of Karrier trucks and a number of surplus military vehicles that Zebrica felt were too outdated for use. Sadly, they were just old rugged trucks.
"Nadim! Where are you?! I need solutions for our shipping problem and I want them now!" He yells, not seeing the young zebra in the shop.
"Hold your horses, I'm just under the Karrier!" A loud voice called out. A young Zebra colt rolled out from underneath a nearby truck, causing Mas to jump a bit. "I have a solution, but we will have to raise the beds on the trucks a few inches. Once the crew finishes their lunch break we can finish the modifications in a fortnight." He stands up his dolly, before fruitlessly trying to wipe the grease off his hooves.
"How is that going to help us?" Mas asks, cocking his head in curiosity. The colt stops his wiping, and grins at him.
"Over here on my desk! I have it all drawn out in the plans!" The zebra trots over to his work table, brushing assorted debris off of a series of papers. "As you know, the Zebrican border has started to beef up their security in response to all the illegal goods crossing the border, along with the countless illegal immigrants from Equestria, right? While a few months ago you could just find your valuables in some fruit crates towards the bottom, they have started digging their hooves deep into them. I don't have to tell you what happens if they catch you with anything unlawful I'm sure? So I came up with a solution! By creating a false bottom on the truck bed we can accommodate more fragile things, such as triggers. For the stocks there isn't a law against exporting them so we can just load those into a crate separately.. As for the mortars I had to further modify the false bottom by an extra few inches, but I don't think anyone will notice. Finally, for the ammunition I have gutted the auxiliary fuel tanks on the old military vehicles; they weren't needed and were leaking. I just added a hatch so we can more or less stack the mortar rounds inside of them. Just make sure you tell your drivers not to fill up the auxiliary tanks." Nadim pointed to each of his modifications. "To open any of the secret compartments you have to pop the hood and pull the green wire connected to the hatches.
"Impressive. You said you hide the release cable with the other wires? Isn't that dangerous?" Mas looks over the blueprints, a small frown on his face.
"Not as long as you wear protection. Better yet, just ground the wires before you mess with it. I'm sure I could come up with something." Nadim says, before sketching...something on his notepad.
"I'm sure it wouldn't be too bad; a little electricity never hurt anybody" Mas trots off to check on his livestock, leaving Nadim to his work. "Early lunch break my ass...those bums are probably sneaking some spice" he shakes his head as he exits his warehouse. Some of his cattle mill around, grazing and staring off into the distance.
He absent mindedly rubbed one who was pushed up against the fence, before he heard the noise of hooves hitting gravel. He looked over lazily to see one of his drivers running down the road towards him in a rush. "What the hell..."
The stallion skidded to a halt in front of him, kicking up a small storm of stone and dirt. "You need to read this bos!!" He hoofs him the newspaper quickly, nearly causing it to blow apart.
Mas looked at it for several seconds."...Young Cadets have bake sale to raise money for camp?" The driver looks over Mas' shoulder; he had flipped to the wrong page.
"What...no! The front page!" Nadim rolls his eyes, flipping to the front page. The first thing he noticed was the mug of some beaten Pegasus, with a scathing headline above it.
"Rainbow Dash: Attempted Saboteur or Assassin...?" He continues to read it over, his eyes growing wider and wider as he sees the extent of the problem.
"Sir, what do we do?"
Nadim thought for a few moments. "We move up our schedule and deliver our goods. We can't afford to miss this deal." He drags the driver over to him, pointing at one of the ponies on the front page. "See that orange mare? Her brother is a fucking kingpin; we lose our deal our boss will skin us. Alive." The two of them share a shudder.
Zebrica
New Timbuktu
Detention Center
12:47pm
Fluttershy was shaking like a leaf. Her hooves were cuffed to the table infront of her, and the room was barely illuminated by a flickering lamp that swung above her. The only thing she could look at was the imposing steel door ahead of her. She couldn't even itch her irritated, tear stained eyes!
She nearly jumped out of her skin hearing the locks on the door slide open. She hid behind her hooves, quivering.
"Hmmmm? Ah yes, you must be miss Fluttershy? Element of Kindness?" The voice was surprisingly gentle, and she looked over her hooves at the dog entering.
She tried to put on a brave face. "Y-yes?" She managed to stutter out, as a German Shepard entered her room. he plopped a chair he was dragging in front of the table, and sat down.
"Oh, how rude of me! I should introduce myself; I am Hanns Scharff." He smiled softly at her. "Do you need anything? A wash basin? Water? A snack?" He asks as he rests his hands on the table.
"I...I...I...want to got home!!" She cries, slamming her face into the table. Hanns sighs.
"Do you know why you're here?" He gently grabs her hoof, and her eyes widen.
"N-no! A bunch of Zebras broke into my room, put a bag on my head, and kidnapped me!" She sobs, holding onto his paw with both hooves.
"Oh dear....you really don't know why your here? There was an attack..." He gets up and lets her cry into his shoulder after unlocking her hoof cuffs.
"B-but I don't know anything about an attack! I spent yesterday talking with a doctor at Somerset Hospital!" She continues to cry as Hanns rubbed her back.
"I'll tell you what I think...you just are caught up in a large misunderstanding...I just need you to answer a few questions and I will personally make sure you're on the first flight home, ok? But I can't help you until you answer a few of the questions my bosses have..." He says.
"But if there was an attack why..." She asks as am intimidating zebra in a dark uniform and full face wrap placed a folder on the table before promptly leaving and locking the door behind him.
Hanns lets her go and returns to his seat, opening the folder and pulling several documents. "The attack was at Arzew refinery...It ended in the deaths of the entire skeleton crew and nearly the entire crew of the airship HMS Fylgia. We currently have the the perpetrator in custody... I think you might know her....a miss Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty?" He says as he looks through a number of photographs.
"T-that's not possible! Rainbow would never do something like that! She...she's..." She stopped in shock as he started to place the photos in front of her.
"I'm sorry to say this but there is no doubt that we have the right mare." He says sadly as he shows her a photo of a fleeing pegasus. Even with the lack of color there was no mistaking the different color tones in her tail and mane.
"B-but...she's an element.....h-how could she...." She shakes as she sees the other items of incriminating evidence that just seemed to keep piling up, ranging from feathers, matching blood types from samples they found near the site; even an empty bag of Spice! "I...w-we had made so much progress.....w-why....." She just cries.
"There's more.I'm sure you remember that our beloved princess Martha was coming to Zebrica to see the victory day parade...the HMS Fylgia was her private airship..." He says sadly.
"I-is she...?" She asked quietly.l
"She's currently in critical condition...it has been touch and go for the last few hours but she is stable. I need you to answer me; did you or any of your friends have anything to do with this? Or did she act alone?" He asks looking into her eyes.
"S-she....s-she...she acted alone..I didn't know anything about it.....neither did my other f-friends..." She sobs softly. "W-what will happen to her?" she slowly asks.
"Normally the death penalty would be given....however due to her... Unique status it has be decided that she will serve life in New Prosost prison....." He got up to leave. "I'll have a wash basin and food sent to you..." He knocks on the door and exits, leaving her alone again in the room.