The Quest For Iscanter

by eternalsquire

Assault on Alastor, Part Two

The bridge of the Yamato was dark aside for emergency lighting.

"That one was a killer.", Rarity commented.

"That one almost killed us.", Twilight Sparkle remarked.

"Too right.", the captain said. "I believe faking it as a sinking vessel convinced them to quit firing on us."

"So now what?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"The satellites seem to act as mirrors.", Twilight said. "I found the one above us which they are using. Take that one out, and we can buy us some time."

"Even though we can submerge, we never anticipated submarine combat. We can't fire missiles while submerged, just torpedoes", Twilight said. "Sorry, Captain."

"I'm the only excuse for military science that we've got, Twilight.", Avatar said. "It's not your fault."

Rainbow Dash's eyes brightened. "I have an idea!"

"Don't be shy about it, Tac.", the captain told her.

"Can a Wondersuit withstand temporary immersion, Twilight?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"Can't see why not.", Twilight answered.

"Good.", Rainbow said. "I'll strap one on, float to the surface, take off, then aim and fire a surface to orbit missile. We've got those, right, Captain?"

"I should certainly hope so.", Avatar confirmed.

"If I'm not mistaken", Rainbow went on, "An STO casing is exactly the same dimensions as the missiles the squadrons use for fighting. Load me up on both sides, and I'll take out that reflector."

"Afraid you'll miss?", Forest challenged.

"It's not like that! An STO doesn't weigh the same as an air-to-air!", Rainbow retorted. "I need a balanced takeoff load if I'm using the catapult!".

"When we escape", the captain summarized, "they'll try to fire upon us using the ones nearby. We might get hit again, may not so badly. In the meantime, we launch Black squadron. Rainbow in the air will lead both squadrons. Between all the pony eyeballs in the air we should be able to find the exact location of the actual cannon."

Avatar slammed his forehooves together. "And then, that Gallopon base will be well and truly done for!"

...

"That barbarian ship has been well and truly done for!", the columnel smiled viciously. "Good work, everyone!"

The soldiers nearby him nodded their heads in salute, then refocused on other tasks.

...

Rainbow Dash left the bridge to make her way to an access corridor. At the end of it was a hatchway. She spun the hatchway lock open, then stepped inside. Inside the hatchway was a large, cavernous room. On the side of the room was an intercom unit. Rainbow used a forehoof to switch on the unit. "Hangar, this is Tac.", she said. "Bring up the Zero, please. Mount STO's on the hardpoints. Get half of Black up here, get the other half portside. Thank you."

Meanwhile, hasty repairs were being made to both the Yamato's and the injureds' bodily integrity. Full lighting had been restored on the bridge. Fluttershy relayed from medical that so far there were nothing worse than burns, abrasions, and contusions.

"Could be worse. Much worse.", Avatar commented.. Silence now reigned. "Rainbow, status!", he said.

"Wonderbolt Zero ready to launch, sir!", Rainbow Dash declared. "I'm on the starboard magnetic catapult."

"Thanks, Tac.", the captain replied. "Rarity, bleed the tanks. We want to surface briefly, then resubmerge!"

"Doing it...", Rarity replied.

"We're up.", Twilight reported, "with liquid slopping over the forecastle. Catapulting..."

Rainbow's Wondersuit was built somewhat differently from those of her squadrons. She customed modified it herself. She added a more sophisticated radar suite, almost but not quite as good as the Yamato's herself, and had tuned the engines herself for maximum performance. She made the fuel tanks larger for greater range, and she added a space behind where a second pony could sit.

The Yamato's magnetic catapult threw Rainbow silently into the air, but at a trajectory just barely skimming the surface. This was actually part of the plan. Rainbow needed to be nowhere near the Yamato before she lit her own little engines. That way, Rainbow herself would not be shot down by the reflector satellite stationed direcly above the ship.

"One little flying pony...", she counted. "Two little flying ponies... Three little flying ponies... Four little flying ponies... Now!" The nuclear jets lit. Rainbow's craft was now under power. "Red Squadron, this is Zero.", she said. "Split up in pairs and skim the ground. Captain, I'm ready for the manuever."

"Go for it!", Avatar said,.

On Equestria one of the standard Wonderbolt manuevers was The Infinity Takeoff. The pegasus performing it was to gather speed level with the ground, and then convert the speed straight into altitude as straight upward as possible. Rainbow accelerated for a few moments, then yanked back the stick with both forehooves and redlined the engines. She was now going in a course vertical relative to the surface.

How funny..., Rainbow thought. I'm flying more than twice as fast as the speed of sound on Equestria and there's not even a hint of a Sonic Rainboom. Alastor might be a fun place to visit for someponies, but not me. The plain ain't got no atmosphere. Okay... I'm lined up with the reflector satellite. Lock on! FIRE!"

Rainbow's surface to orbit missile promptly shattered the sword hanging over the Yamato's neck.

"Step Two!", the captain announced. "We'll have just a few seconds before they notice its gone.". He pushed an intercom button on his own console. "Black Squadron, launch!"

Both the port and starboard magnetic catapults flung the remaining Wonderbolts into the sky. They could at least light engines immediately, since at the present moment the enemy had no eyes with which to see.

"Rarity, submerge us again!"

"Done, sir.", the navigator replied.

Rainbow Dash leveled her craft out to ten thousand furlongs altitude. "Black Squadron, this is Zero.", she said. "Disperse in pairs. All Wonderbolts, try to find anything at all which might look like a base. Stay stealthed."

If we could somehow do away with radio. I so much wish Twilight was reading my mind right now., Rainbow hoped.

How do you know that I'm not?, Twilight replied.

Twilight, it's you!, Rainbow shouted silently in joy.

Radio doesn't work from our depth. I thought I'd try a telepathy spell., Twilight sent.

Fantastic!, Rainbow responded Any possibility you can relay between the Wonderbolts?

No. Sorry, Twilight answered regretfully. Just only with the Mane Six and Celestia. Celestia is very much out of range.

Don't worry about it, Raindow Dash encouraged. What we've got now is a whole lot more than the nothin' we've had before!

...

The Gallopon columnel thought to himself how he might word his report directly to the Leader about how they successfully sank a barbarian spaceship. In the meantime, he had a planet to subjugate. Time to throw more rocks. He gave the order for the cannon to blast another rock toward Planet Three.

A technician could be heard counting down. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two One.

A section of ice suddenly brightened, then melted, as a corsuscating beam of bright light emerged from the surface and leapt into the sky. The beam reflected off a series of satellites... but it didn't hit a rock this time... it simply escaped into empty space.

What the... , the technician thought.

...

Spitfire spotted it first. "Zero, this is Black Three!", she called out. "I just saw it!"

"Coordinates, please.", Rainbow Dash said.

"40 relative to my position, thirty five hundred furlongs out.", Spitfire reported.

Got that,Twilight? , Rainbow Dash sent.

Clear as a bell! . Twilight sent back. I've just told the captain. He says go ahead with Step Three without us.

No problem. , Rainbow finished. "Wonderbolts!", she radioed. "Stage Three, I repeat, Stage Three. Latitude 45.53 degrees, longitude 260.07. Hug the ground."

Rainbow hear microphone clicks responding to her in acknowledgement.

...

It took the Gallopon equivalent of fifty minutes for the incident of the missing mirror to rise upward through the chain of command back to the columnel. He was still in the middle of writing his report for his Leader.

During that time, the Wonderbolts had time to fly to the position which Spitfire spotted. Red Squadron dropped their antimatter explosive canisters in a five thousand furlong circle around the target. Black Squadron dropped all of theirs in the center of said circle.

The plan now was for Wonderbolts get at far away from the target as fast as possible, hugging the ground to avoid radar detection. Twilight Sparkle made it extremely clear to one and all that antimatter in bulk was dreadfully dangerous stuff which everyone should consider as scary to be around as Nightmare Moon.

"No offense intended, Luna.", Twilight said in an aside during the briefing beforehand.

"None taken, child.", Luna replied. "I would be happy to play Nightmare Moon once again... for the Gallopons own pleasure."

Twilight! Rainbow dash sent. Hot-hoof prank is good to go!.

I've passed that to the captain. Twilight sent back. You guys get out of there !

"Rarity,", Avatar ordered, "purge the tanks. Set bow to twenty degrees up. Auxilliary engines to full. Launch!"

The Yamato prompty leapt out of the lake.

...

"Aha!", the Gallopon columnel said. "It wasn't dead after all. It soon will be."

"Sir!", a three-chevroned stallion said. "One of the reflecting satellites is gone! The one above the ship!"

"It doesn't matter", the columnel replied. "We'll find an alternate series of angles. Fire!"

...

Far below the ice, the cannon warmed up, then discharged. The resulting beam hit the antimatter charges in the center. The center charges exploded, causing the ice not to melt so much as to erupt in solid chuncks upward and outward, exposing the cannon. The fireball caused the antimatter charges placed along the circumference to detonate. The enhanced fireball then extended downward, creating a crater exposing the base. The beam itself continued.

boom!

"That one was just grazed off the deck plates.", Twilight Sparkle said.

"I'm tired of being under these satellites.", Avatar said. "Ballistic course to cannon coordinates, fastest speed possible!"

Everypony grabbed hold of something to prevent the sudden acceleration from toppling them to the floor.

...

"They're... just ... leaving?", the columnel said.

An unbranded mare studied a tactical board. "Um... sir... I don't think so. I think you'll want to look at this."

They noticed the Yamato's bow was now hovering right over their cannon.

...

"Shock cannon, turrets one and two, point-blank range, FIRE!", yelled the captain.

White-hot beams of anti-electronic death screamed out from the Yamato's foward turrets. The base windows shattered first. The poured stone supports melted and vaporized. Finally, the metal framing and desks melted into red-hot puddles.

The columnel watched the Yamato bearing in on him. He stood tall and shouted, "ZAR DESSCLOPP!!", in defiance, just as another shock cannon beam intersected his location, turning himself and all his subordinates into ash.

The ponies on the bridge all turned toward their captain in horror. They as a race had never taken life on any significant scale in living memory.

"This feels so wrong on so many levels.", Fluttershy said. "I wish we didn't have to do things like this."

"I'm so very sorry", Avatar replied to her, soberly and sincerely remorseful. "Our voyage is only going to get worse before it begins to get better."