We Shall go on to the End

by Wheller

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The day passed later into the night, and all of the passengers on the train retired for the evening. Even Legion, who took a car to towards the back of the train for himself. Everypony was fine with this, as they hardly wanted to share the air they breathed with him, let alone sleeping space. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Vinyl Scratch, and Surprise had taken up residence in a sleeper car near the front of the train. Most of their party had already gone to bed.

'Twilight', Vinyl Scratch said, pulling her fellow unicorn aside. 'I don't think that was very smart, with Legion I mean'.

'Huh? Vinyl, if you thought it was a bad idea, why did you back me up?' Twilight asked.

'Well, of course I backed you up! I'm the lancer! That's what I'm supposed to do!' Vinyl said with a grin.

'... What?' Twilight asked in confusion.

'Never mind...' Vinyl said with a sigh. 'The point is... be careful. You might have taken Legion down a notch today, but she's still dangerous, just, don't get to confidant, okay? Don't push him too much, you were right, he needs us more than we need him, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have his uses'.

Twilight blinked looking at Vinyl Scratch in confusion. 'Who are you and what have you done with Vinyl Scratch?'

'Oh I'm secretly a shape shifter who took the form of Vinyl Scratch and threw her off the back of the train while nopony was looking', Vinyl Scratch said with a grin. 'I know right? When did I get to be the reasonable one? I'm still trying to answer that one for myself'.

Twilight looked Vinyl Scratch over; she could tell her fellow unicorn had something on her mind. 'Vinyl? Is everything all right? We've all been so preoccupied with things lately we haven't gotten a chance to just talk...'

Vinyl gave a smile at Twilight's question. 'Well, apart from the fact that our town's been overrun by a crazed lunatic and his rogue chapter of the Cultus Mechanius, everything is just dandy'.

Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance. 'Quit using sarcasm to avoid the question! I know you, that doesn't work anymore'.

'Huh, well, I'm going to need to change my strategy for deflection then', Vinyl said with a grin, but without offering up any explanation.

'I'm not leaving until you talk', Twilight said.

Vinyl sighed. 'Fine...' She and Twilight trotted over to some of the seats near the back of the car and sat down. 'It's Surprise'.

'What happened?' Twilight asked.

'Well, we had sex', Vinyl said. 'She told me that she loved me last night and well... I'm not sure it was a good idea or not... Surprise may be the oldest out of all of our friends, but mentally, she's like four. She wanted it, but I don't know if she's really able to make that decision for herself or not'.

'You feel like you've taken advantage of her', Twilight said.

'I'll be the first to admit that I have poor self restraint', Vinyl said with a frown.

Twilight placed her foreleg around Vinyl's shoulder. 'I don't think you're giving Surprise enough credit, he's more complex than that, follow your heart, Vinyl, when has it ever steered you wrong before?'

Vinyl looked blankly at Twilight for a moment. 'Um...'

'Okay, maybe that advice doesn't fit your specific situation very well...' Twilight said. 'But you get what I'm saying right?'

Vinyl gave Twilight a small smile. ‘Yeah, Twilight, I think I do. Thanks, what would I do without you guys?’

‘Well you’d probably be lying dead in a ditch somewhere from alcohol poisoning, or an overdose, or probably both’, Twilight said as she gave Vinyl a hug.

Vinyl couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘Ain’t that the truth?’ she said as she hugged the mare back. ‘I’m going to go to bed, goodnight Twilight, go cuddle Rainbow Dash some’.

‘Oh I will’, Twilight said with a smile as the two mares rose to their hooves and turned in for the night.

...

The streets of Ponyville were deserted. The sun had gone down several hours ago, really, nopony was supposed to be out and about since the Fillydelphia chapter imposed curfew. The fighting had stopped, and cleanup crews had scoured the streets clean of combots, and the fallen dead of both sides.

Like it or not, the Fillydelphia chapter was in control of Ponyville, and they were quick to exert their will. Mandatory curfew between sunset and sunrise, gatherings larger than three were prohibited, the schoolhouse was to be shut down and the Fillydelphia chapter would be appointing a new teacher to educate the town’s foals.

Nopony liked it. Not one bit. Almost all of the town were too scared to do anything. Trixie, however, wasn’t going to stand by and do nothing.

The lights of the Ponyville spa were still on, Trixie ducked around back and gave the door a quick knock. The door opened to reveal one of the spa twins, the pink coated one, Aloe. ‘Were you followed?’ she asked.

‘No, Trixie checked’, Trixie said simply.

‘Inside! Quickly!’ Aloe hissed as she motioned Trixie inside, shutting the door up tightly and locking it behind them. She led Trixie down a hallway and into the main room. Trixie was pleased to see that she was not the only one there.

Lyra, Bon Bon, Berry Punch, Colgate and Aloe’s twin sister, Lotus were all in the main room. Each of them looking nervously at each other.

‘This is it? Just us? Where’s Carrot Top? Where’s Caramel? Braeburn? Big McIntosh?’ Trixie asked.

‘W... we don’t know’, Lyra said nervously. ‘I... I checked the list of the dead... they weren’t on it... but... By Celestia! So many names! Melliot, Pine Breeze... Drizzle! So many!’

Lyra couldn’t keep it in anymore, she broke into tears, burying herself into Bon Bon’s shoulder and crying her eyes out. Bon Bon embraced her friend, doing her best to comfort her.

‘I know’, Trixie said, nodding her head. ‘The Fillydelphia chapter slaughtered our friends and neighbours, and for what? We can’t let them get away with this, we have to fight back!’

‘With what?’ Berry Punch asked. ‘We’re seven mares in a spa, what can we possibly do?’

‘As we are now? Nothing’, Trixie said simply. ‘As what we’re about to become with this? We can win’.

Trixie levitated a book out from under her cape, placing it on a table.

‘The Art of Warfare... by Sunzi?’ Berry Punch asked as she took a look at it. ‘Who is Sunzi?’

‘Sunzi was a Māo Xióng military commander who lived nearly twenty five hundred years ago. He was well regarded for his thoughts on strategy, and is taught in many countries militaries around the world even today. I took the liberty of looting it from the Library before I came over here. We’re going to take back our home’, Trixie said.

Lyra stopped crying at this point, she stiffened her resolve. ‘We’re going to kick these arseholes all the way back to Fillydelphia’.

‘Yes, yes we are’, Trixie said as she opened the book to the first page. ‘Now, who here knows where Pinkie Pie keeps her dynamite?’

...

Ditzy Doo sat at the navigator console of the Nimbus, looking out the window as the Nephite zeppelin cruised through the air. Wondrous bit of technology, the airship was. Ditzy Doo had wondered how the Nephites had been able to build such a craft, only for her to discover that they had not built it at all. The Nimbus was nearly a thousand years old, and was formerly owned by the royal family of Equestria. According to Graham Cracker, the airship had been abandoned by Princess Celestia a thousand years ago during a state visit to the town of Hopeville in Southern Equestria. Home to the Hopeville Missile Base, there had been an ‘accidental’ launch of one of the missiles, destroying the town completely, and creating what was known today, as the Divide.

After the destruction of the Nephite’s former home of Ashville, a scout group had discovered it sitting derelict in dry dock, in almost pristine condition. Hidden away in a hermetically sealed section of the ruined Hopeville Missile Base, the airship had been well preserved, all it needed was new hydrogen to fill the zeppelin and it was good to go.

Ditzy Doo turned her head back down to the navigational console. They would soon be arriving at Vermillion Mesa. Ditzy Doo looked back up to discover dark clouds on the horizon. Lit up by flashes of lightning, Vermillion Mesa was one of the few places where weather ran on its own in Equestria and as a result found itself surrounded by perpetual lightning storms.

The Cultus Mechanius had always found that appealing, because it kept people that didn’t know the safe way through the storms away. Fortunately for them, they knew the way.

‘Radar station? We’ve just reached the perimeter of the storm, I need up to date weather charts’, Ditzy Doo called out.

‘Aye aye!’ said the Nephite manning the radar station. A stallion named Flynn. ‘Pushing the data now Navigation!’ he said.

‘Thank you Flynn... receiving it now’, Ditzy Doo said as she took a look over it. ‘Helm! Prepare to receive updated course information’.

‘Aye navigation’ called the helm officer.

Ditzy Doo took a look back at her console, analysing the weather data and charting a new heading through the rough weather. She passed it off to the helm, and watched out the window as they began their descent.

Comments

[DreadedCandiru2]

Hmmmm. I'd wondered what Trixie was in all of this. Archimedes might not know it but he's got a headache that refers to itself in the third person.