The Assault on Fort Echidna
The Summerstar was just twenty minutes away from Baltimare. Nose Nip was scanning the ground to see if Sunset Shimmer, Lightning Dust, or Radiant might have been done there. Suddenly, he noticed several royal guards charging through the trees to a ruined fort near a river.
"Hey!" he called to the others, who were waiting idly by. "I think somepony ought to come see this!"
Teddy, Frosty, and Scarlet Blaze went to look through the reinforced glass windows.
"Looks like there's somethin' goin' on down dere!" said Frosty, looking through a low window.
"That must be where Radiant was sent!" said Scarlet. "Nose Nip, we need to land!"
"No can do!" said Nose Nip. "Sorry, but there's too many trees down there! If this thing wasn't so darn big, maybe we could land this thing! But I just don't see it happening while we're over this forest! We'll have to either circle around to find a good spot to land, or keep flying to Baltimare!"
"Fine, then circle around." said Scarlet. "But we should drop smoke-signals down on those ruins, in case we get lost!"
"Got it!" said Teddy, before adding confused. "Umm...how?"
"Frosty and I found an armory on this airship." said Scarlet. "It's very understocked--we'll have to fill it up sometime along the line. But it has canisters of red smoke to mark landing sites. If you can drop them through the cab's cargo doors, it'd be much appreciated! If you're wondering where it is, it'll be the second door on the right."
"Right!" acknowledged Teddy.
He ran down the corridor to the armory door. He opened it, and grabbed as many canisters as he could. He opened the loading door meant for cargo, and fought the strong wind to open the canisters and drop them down on the ruined fort. As they hit the ground, pillars of red smoke rose up. He hit the switch that sealed the cargo bay door, and ran back to the Summerstar's bridge.
"Okay, the ruins are marked!" said Teddy.
"Right!" said Nose Nip. "Turnin' this baby around right now! Frosty, let's ease up on the hot air!"
"Should we throw Pressure Point off, then?" snarked Frosty.
"No, I mean let the engines die down a little!" said Nose Nip.
"I knew dat, I knew dat!" said Frosty, chuckling. "Just a little joke!"
He galloped downstairs to the engine room, to make the proper adjustments.
The royal guards and Changeling Elite, along with a platoon of reinforcements from the Baltimare garrison, were combing the forest for the area where the renegades' blowguns were being constructed. Suddenly, something caught their attention.
"What in Equestria is that?!" exclaimed Skywater, looking up at the sky at the vast airship that cast a shadow over a big portion of the woodlands outside Baltimare.
"It's a dragon!" said Kengu.
"It's a blimp!" said Silver Shadow.
"No...that's a zeppelin." said Sky Boom. "You see, blimps are inflatable like a balloon, while zeppelins have a skeletal frame and--"
"Look, whatever that thing is..." said Commander Grubb. "It's dropping smoke-signals. Whoever's in that thing must be telling us where to find the renegades!"
"...Or trying to lure us into a trap!" said another elite Changeling soldier, uncertainly.
"Let's take our chances, anyway!" said a royal guard from Baltimare.
They went to the site where the smoke canisters were dropped, and came to a cave overlooking the mouth of a river.
"That must be the entrance to the renegades' base!" said Grubb. "Good. We'll teach them to mess with the Changeling Empire!"
"Let's move in!" said Silver Shadow, turning to the other ponies. "Let's kick some renegade tail!"
The royal guards and Changeling Elite flew and galloped into the cave, which had a long tunnel that sloped down. They eventually came into a large, spacious cavern dotted with powder kegs and various mining-equipment. There, several ponies and Changelings were being forced to mine and dig by the templars.
"There they are!" said Grubb. "And they're using our people for labor! It's a disgrace!"
He hissed furiously as he watched two templars whipping a Changeling drone to within an inch of his life. He flew up to a hanging platform, emitted green sparks from his horn to light the fuse of a nearby powder keg, and shoved it over the edge. It hit the ground, and detonated in the middle of a group of templars, killing or injuring them all.
"Attack!" shouted Grubb, dropping down on another templar.
The royal guards and Changelings charged in and mobbed the templar overseers, while simultaneously prompting the prisoners to break free.
"Sir, the Canterlot Royal Guard has discovered us!" a tall unicorn templar said to Royal Commander Firewing, who was recording an entry in his journal. "And they've already discovered our secret entrance!"
He stopped, and turned around, with a disappointed expression on his face.
"Scramble the other guards now, lieutenant." said Firewing. "And I think it's time to unveil our special weapon."
"Are you sure it's time to test it, commander?" asked the lieutenant.
"Yes, I do." said Firewing. "Though I really wanted to save it for the princesses or the Changeling Royal Family if they ever stepped in personally, I think nothing's wrong with a field test. It's not like the weapon will leave any witnesses, anyways. Unless, the weapon wasn't built to my own specifications?"
"Of course it was, sir." said the lieutenant. "I'll tell our armorers to bring it out!"
Radiant Dawn decided he was too tired to continue pulling the cart. He had to find a way to escape this insane work camp.
"Ow! Aahhhh...." he feigned pain. "I'm too sore!"
"What's the problem, lazy-boy?" said an overseer.
"This cart's murdering my spine!" said Radiant, groaning. "I--ow!--can't--ooowwww!--Keep working under--ah...these conditions!"
"But you ain't got too far to go, pretty-boy!" said the overseer. "Here's some motivation for ya!"
"Yeah?" asked Radiant.
"If you get this last wagon to its destination, lazy-boy, you can go clean our latrines!"
There was another rumble in the distance.
"What was that?" said Radiant.
"Nothin' you have to worry about, lazy-boy!"
"I have a name, you know!" growled Radiant.
"Names don't mean a thing around here." said the overseer. "You don't see any of us templars wearing a name tag, do ya? I just call 'em as I see 'em!"
Radiant wasn't listening to him, though. He was taking this amount of time in which the overseer was distracted to listen to the distant noises. There were raised voices, hoof-falls...sounds of magic being used, and metallic weapons clashing!
"Okay, lazy-boy." said the overseer. "Back to work."
Radiant did not respond.
"lazy-boy, oh lazy-boy! Lazy-boy? Oh, lazy-boy. Lazy-boy, lazy-boy, laz--"
Suddenly, a toxic dart struck the overseer on the neck, killing him in seconds. As he fell to the ground, A tall pegasus dropped down and loosened Radiant Dawn from the cart.
"Radiant Dawn?" said the pegasus.
"Yeah, that's me." said Radiant.
"I am Felix Summerset, paladin of Saddle Arabia." said the pegasus. "I am honored to finally meet you at last. I came here with your sister. She and I split up to look for you."
"Really?" said Radiant. "Sunny came here to help? Did anyone else come?"
"None of her friends would go with her, so I had to go with her instead." said Felix.
"But how'd you find out where we--"
There was an explosion nearby, and several templars and overseers were blasted against the walls.
"What the heck's going on?" asked Radiant.
"I don't know." said Felix. "But whatever it is, it's buying us time to escape and regroup. Are you fit to fight?"
"Darn right, I'm fit to fight!" said Radiant. "Let's show these templars how we Saddle Arabians do things!"
Suddenly, they heard a number of raised voices from above.
"The commander needs this thing set-up now!" shouted a zebra templar.
Felix and Radiant looked up, and saw a group of templars consisting of a three ponies carrying a large, chrome cylindrical object, a gryphon carrying a number of belt-like objects in one claw, another gryphon carrying what appeared to be a tripod stand, and a zebra at the front leading the group.
"What the heck could that thing be?" asked Radiant.
"I don't know for certain." said Felix. "But whatever it is, it probably won't do us any good."
"Let's try and get 'em!" Radiant said.
Suddenly, at least fifty more templars charged along the path the group of carriers went, making the idea of going after them from that way seem irrational, and even suicidal.
"We'll have to find another way around!" said Felix. "That way will just be too dangerous for the two of us alone."
The two went on through a lower passageway.
Sunset Shimmer was frantically searching the labor area for her brother. It seemed that every ten seconds, two or three templars would notice and try to stop her, only to be blasted away with Sunset's magic. A few times Sunset had to teleport from platform to platform to dodge the darts shot at her. It was even worse than her battle with the Chrysalis Syndicate, since unlike the Syndicate's loud and audible guns, Sunset had to rely on nothing but instinct to make sure her life wasn't suddenly taken away by some vile projectile.
She also couldn't see the darts or the templars firing them too well in the poorly-lit underground labor area, so she simply could not afford to stand still for more than three seconds, in case one of them tried sneaking up and sniping her from behind. And if she was hit just once...that was it. She would be done for, no questions asked.
Still, she couldn't just give up, either. She came here knowing what she was doing, and intended to see it through. If her brother could survive here, so could she. She teleported again, and blasted a pair of overseers with a concussive spell.
"Go!" said Sunset, looking down at the pony and Changeling laborers. "Get yourselves out of here, before more templars come this way!"
The Changelings and ponies looked up with uncertainty.
"Look, either die fighting to save your life, or die huddled up in a corner!" said Sunset.
"Let's go!" shouted a laborer, rallying his fellows and raising the spade he was using. "Down with the templars!"
The laborers shouted and cheered, even the Changelings, a few of which took off into the air with their horns glowing...only to suddenly be shot and killed by more toxic darts. Sunset gasped and looked up. Up on a higher ledge, Royal Commander Firewing stood holding an unlit dynamite stick in his hoof. But he wasn't alone, since around twenty templars armed with blowguns and javelins were huddled around him, pointing their weapons down at Sunset and the prisoners.
"I never pictured you to be the Spartacus type, Sunset Shimmer." said Firewing. "When will you fools learn that revolting will only make things worse for yourselves, not better?"
"We'll just see about that, commander!" said Sunset. "You're going to go down, somehow!"
"I doubt that." retorted Firewing. "You can all forget about anypony saving you now."
"Why?" asked Sunset.
The royal guards and Changeling Elite had the templars guarding the labor area totally at their mercy, and were struggling to reach the tunnel that led down to the labor and prison areas, when suddenly there was a noise of whining machinery from above.
"What in the name of Celestia...?!" exclaimed a Baltimare guard.
The groups looked up in awe, as a group of templars finished assembling some kind of device, and were pointing it down at the assault team. One of the templars fit the belt-like objects halfway through the middle of the device and adjusted a slide at the top, while another cranked a wheel with a handle on the side that caused the device to whine louder, and its ten long cylinders started to spin, going faster and faster, until...
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Is that machine what I think it is?! *gulps loudly*
5304977 I sure hope not.
5305815 Oh. Sorry. I believe it might be some sort of cannon or huge grenade launcher. After all, they did have those spherical objects remember?
5305824
5305815
5305333
The last sentence should've really given away what that machine is.
5305876 Oh?
5305889
5305888
Does this seriously not remind you of anything? Read the sentence. The clues are all there. What kind of weapon does this sound like?
Sorry, bit if you can't figure it out now, you'll just have to wait for me to post the next chapter. I don't mean to be rude, but I'd rather not have to spoil something like this in the comments section.
5305921 Oh no. You're not being rude at all. It's just hard for me to find the right word for what it is. I KNOW what it is, just forgot the name.
5307197 I remember now. It's a Gatling Gun.
wow! as soon as I read that last sentence in this chapter, I'm left speechless!