Millennia: Beginning

by Thunderblast

35. Manehattan Liberation - Part I

The skyline of Manehattan was erupting into chaos in the blink of an eye. Distant pops and crackles of explosions quickly became the only thing to be heard for miles. Thick, black plumes of smoke billowed skywards and drifted towards the west because of the oceanic winds pushing inland. This was it. This was zero hour.

"I was right..." I spoke to myself softly, standing beside my group of friends who stared towards the chaotic metropolis. One thing was for sure, we all had the same look of terror. My own look shifted and became hard-nosed. "We have to go in there."

The others' attention moved to me. They all looked at me like I was crazy. I probably was.

"Just us?" Silver Edge's head gently tilted. "That's suicide!"

"I'm sorry, do you have any better ideas?" I replied.

"Star, you're going insane. I know you were right to stay here and all, but we as a group can't take on a whole army!" Solar put as a matter of fact.

He wasn't wrong. Just the five of us, added to probably however many sailors left on base, couldn't possibly change the odds. It was suicide.

"Now hang on," Nightpath trotted up beside me and stood tall. He looked down over the others sternly.

"Star is right. We can't just sit back and let this happen. Yes, the rest of our brothers and sisters are hundreds of miles away and have been mislead to the wrong place. It could be hours before they realize what is going on, and by then, Manehattan will have long fallen. We're Marines—"

"And sailors," Anchorage added, looking rather unamused.

"And sailors," Night nodded once to the grayish-white pegasus. "It is our job to run towards the sounds of tyranny. It is our job to defend the country and ponies we love and care for, and if we do nothing, what does that make us?"

Anchorage, Silver, and Solar exchanged looks, before Silver stepped forward. "It makes us cowards."

The taller brown stallion nodded once to the beige unicorn. "It makes us cowards. It makes us appear that our own lives matter more than those in the path of danger. It makes me ask this question. Why are we Marines? Why go through all of the trouble of training, aim practice, and everything else in between if when the call of duty comes upon us, we all turn it down?"

Night's body noticeably tightened, as did his expression. He scanned down upon the others with the look of a sergeant. "I'm ashamed to be a Lunar Marine if much of my teammates are cowards. Come on, Star, Silver" he looked to his side down at me, and to Silver. "We have work to do."

The three of us turned tail and begun walking away, when two sparks of magic latched onto our shoulders gently and stopped us.

"Wait a minute," Solar sauntered over, dissipating the magic. "I'll go."

I gave a gentle nod to Solar and cracked a very small smile. I then glanced behind him to Anchorage, who stood there with worry and appeared unsure of himself. A short silence later, he stepped forward with a sigh. "Impeccable speech, but I hope you two have a plan."

"What plan could there be other than to hold them back? We can't exactly develop something until we know for sure that backup is on it's way. Like Night said, it could be hours, or worse, even days, before another Marine steps hoof into the city," I waved a hoof. "But we can't exactly go in and expect to ride it out from there."

"We should probably gather somewhere and form something, just to get us started off. Because yes, it is better than going in guns-a-blazing."

***

Rolling out a map of the city, Silver held the sides down with his magical aura, then pressed his hoof towards the lower end of the island.

"All right, so from just how it looks from our point of view, they haven't gotten too far into the city and are so far around this area—" he ran his hoof in a circle around the lower tip, including Batterneigh Park. "—For us to cross into the city without immediately being shot at would take a lot of precision with this movement There are only two bridges on the north side that we can access in time. There's the Manehattan Bridge—" Silver pointed it out on the map. "—and then there's the 23rd Street Bridge."

"Its unfinished," Anchorage cut in, his tone flat. The four of us looked up from the map at him.

"It's what?" I asked.

"Its not finished yet. The bridge has been under construction for months and still they haven't laid down all of the steel beams or connected them and what not. The weather has been taking a toll on progress," Anchorage sat himself on the floor. "Unless you have a better plan to get us across that bridge, the Manehattan one is our only shot."

"Now hang on," Silver stiffened, eyes situated on where the bridge was on the map. "If it's not too far of a gap, we can jump across, right?"

"I there wasn't a gap at all, it's nowhere near safe to cross. Even the littlest of a breeze would knock you off balance and you'd fall into the water, or on the concrete slab where the pillar sits if you're lucky," Anchorage answered grimly.

"Why would we be lucky?" Solar tilted his head.

The grayish-white pegasus turned to him with a brow furrowed. "Would you prefer a slow, painful, cold death from hypothermia, or instant death upon hitting concrete from a hundred feet up?"

The yellow unicorn shuddered. "Forget I asked."

I stood slowly. "Either way we put it, it will be risky. Crossing the Manehattan Bridge has the possibility of Constitution troops being at or near the other end, meaning we'd have to blindly time it and hope we don't all get bullets to the head in the long run. And, as you said Anchor—" I glanced at him. "—we'll be lucky to make it across the 23rd Street Bridge without one of us taking an arctic plunge."

"So, which is it? We have to pick one of the two," Silver said, looking between each and every one of us.

We all exchanged looks for a couple of long moments. I spoke up first. "I vote 23rd Street."

Anchorage was next. "Manehattan Bridge."

Solar shifted uncomfortably where he sat and sighed. "23rd Street."

All eyes turned to Nightpath afterwards. He was still tense but didn't appear nervous. "Manehattan Bridge."

Silver was left yet to put in his vote. He would decide for us which route to take. At that moment I could feel my chest pounding slightly on the outside the faster my heart pumped.

"23rd Street. That's where we're going," the beige unicorn stood up. "Beyond that, what do we do?"

I looked over the map, primarily between the two bridges in the east-central part of the city. I picked up a marker off of the table and removed the cap, making a line mark on one of the streets.

"We form an invisible barrier to hold the line at. A barricade. Surely they won't be going westwards individually. They're large enough to send small squadrons per street. If it goes down the shitter, then we will fall back and form a line elsewhere, or set up positions in buildings and rain hell down upon them," I set the marker down. "But first..."

The others looked to me.

"We must send a distress signal to Baltimare. Even if it reaches a news station, we must ensure the message is delivered to who we want it to be delivered to."

"And that would be... who?"

"Lieutenant Snow Storm."

"Just how do you plan to communicate with him? They most likely aren't finished setting up, if they've even started at all," Anchorage stated as a matter of probable fact.

"Anchorage, don't you know a fellow sailor good with Morse code?" Silver added.

"I do, why?" He asked, followed by his eyes widening. "Let's go."

Anchorage was the first out of the room, flying out rapidly into the hallway. Silver folded the map back up and tucked it away in a small waist pack, galloping out after him, the rest of us following suit.

In less than a minute, all of us were outside and attempting to keep up with Anchorage. He was a faster flyer than he appeared to be. Not that it was an issue of course. I considered this to be a workout. As would the next couple of weeks or more.

Before I realized it, we were just in front of the base's primary communications hub. It was a massive one-story building, on top being a five-floor tall steel antenna tower with red lights pecked on the edges and one at the very top. The building was situated on the far north side of the base and was barely noticeable from the main gate, let alone where I was stationed on the opposite side.

Anchorage finally landed, pulling the door open and galloping inside. We ran up just a bit behind him, having lost ground along the way due to his breakneck flying. The door slowly shut, allowing for all of us but Night to slip inside without crashing through the door. The glass shattered and the three of us came to a complete stop, staring back with parted jaws at the destroyed door.

Nightpath groaned softly and pushed himself up, some bits of glass sliding off of his back and landing on the floor in a shattered puddle beneath his hooves. Somehow he wasn't cut anywhere on uncovered parts of his body, much to his luck.

"Are you guys coming?" Anchorage called from further down the hallway, waving a hoof for us to follow and head peeking around a corner.

Once Night was up, we continued quickly after Anchorage and turned left at the corridor where he waited. At the end of the small corridor was another glass door that was held open by an earth pony mare dressed in the uniform style of a Marine. She pulled each of us inside, then shut the door. I stopped to catch my breath, head dipping and chest heaving. We had run clear across the base in the time frame of just a couple of minutes.

"It is bad out there, isn't it?" The mare asked, walking up to a small panel on the wall and flicking a few switches upwards.

"Very," I answered. "Not here though. Yet." I finally did catch my breath a second after and stood back up straight, fully seeing the purple-colored mare. "You're a Marine. Why are you still here and not in Baltimare?"

"You should ask yourself the same question. It seems four of you should as well," she closed the panel up and locked it with a key. "I was told to stay put and ensure order in the base, as well as look after this place."

"Is Circuit Breaker still here?" Anchorage trotted up. "Please, tell me he is."

"Beats me," the light purple mare shrugged. "I haven't seen him for a couple of days. He might have taken vacation leave like he's been talking about a lot lately."

"Damn it," Anchorage muttered. "Are you any good with Morse code?"

"Sort of. Why?"

"Do you have any experience with distress signals?"

The mare shrugged. "Varies on what kind of distress signal."

Anchorage breathed a gentle sigh of relief. "Good enough for me. Let's get to work."

***

From the personal memoir journal of Lieutenant Snow Storm

3rd Lunar Marine Battalion, 82nd Special Operations

I stood a block from the Baltimare train station where the temporary command shelter was being placed. A nearby hotel was friendly enough to offer the remainder of its vacant rooms to those of us there, packing in six ponies in the two-bedded rooms. Sleeping mattresses were brought along to provide for everypony to ensure no one was left out of a warm place to sleep.

Two trainloads later, every Marine called into the city was unloaded and aiding with evacuations of Baltimare, as well as setting up our command base. It would be at least a day before communications would be fully set up. As always, however, the machine built specifically for Morse code was the first to be set up in the event of a change in plans or simply to communicate with home base, over two-hundred and twenty three miles to the north.

With our tent set up, the process of bringing in portable computers, radios, and every little thing in between had started while I was to oversee it. Javelin Charm stood to my right, a clipboard and a pencil in his magical grasp as he wrote down on it. For all I knew it was a checklist of everything being brought in. There would be multiple tents. This was just ours.

As soon as the first crate was put down, a faint ticking sound caught my attention. My ear swiveled slightly, picking up the noise. I turned my head in the direction and saw the Morse code machine springing to life. My eyes slightly widened and I turned to Javelin, nudging him gently. "Corporal, the Morse code is going off."

Javelin gasped softly and dropped the clipboard, running right up to the machine and putting on the small pair of earphones to listen closer. He took the pencil he held and began writing down on a clean piece of paper to decode the message while I stood behind him, watching with a look of concern. We hadn't been here an hour and information was already coming in.

Then, the pencil dropped from Javelin's hoof onto the ground.

"What is it, corporal?" I asked. There was no immediate response.

Javelin sat there, staring down at the piece of paper with shocked eyes, jaw hanging open. "No... I-it can't be!"

"Can't be what?" I stepped closer. "Corporal. What is wrong?"

Slowly, his head turned and he made eye contact with me. The look on his expression told me everything.

"Sir, Manehattan is under attack," he said with a deep gulp. "Star was right."

It was at that moment where I froze. I don't remember for how long, but long enough for the rest of my squad to surround me and try to break me out of my trance. This was every Marine's worst nightmare. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I snapped back to reality and put a stern look on. I had to make an order. Not just to my squadron, but the rest of the Marines. "Everypony, pack it up, we're going back!"

***

The purple mare, Heart Line, removed the earphones from her ears and set them down beside the machine, turning in her chair. "Message sent. Now let's all just pray they get it in time, or at all."

Anchorage gently patted the mare's shoulder. "You're a true hero, Hearty," he smiled gently.

"Don't make me blush, and don't call me that forsaken name," Heart responded firmly. "What are you all planning to do?"

"Somewhere on the lines of forming a barrier in the city. We won't be able to stop many but their efforts will slow down," I stepped forth, answering her question.

"What if they flank you from another direction?"

"We will be covering all directions around us. Primarily the east. If things get out of hoof, we've determined taking up positions in some of the surrounding high rises will not only give us some cover, it will make our job easier when it comes to aiming. I hope, that is."

Heart lightheartedly chuckled. "Good luck. I would tag along, but this seems like a job for a group of stallions, not a group of stallions and a mare."

"If ya can shoot a gun and have at least an aim of seventy, you're as good as the rest of us," Anchorage rested his elbow on the back of her chair and grinned slightly.

Heart swiveled her chair around, forcing Anchorage to lose his balance and fall over with a thud and a grunt. Looking up from the floor, he gave a light pout to her. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Don't get me wrong, you're cute, but sailors aren't my thing." Heart stood up, raising her nose and walking to the other side of the room.

"Ooooh ho ho!" Silver whooped at the burn. Anchorage pushed himself to his fours and dusted himself off, shooting a deadly look at the beige unicorn who backed off immediately.

Heart stopped before a digital map of the city, then sighed. "You boys aren't going to last an hour out there if it is truly as bad as you tell me it is."

Slowly, Night and I walked up beside her to look at the map. "Staying put and not taking action isn't an option, I'm afraid."

"Its a suicide mission." Heart peered at me.

"More ponies will die if we don't do something," I said flatly. "I won't lose anypony. Not on my watch."

She simply stared at me while I kept my gaze focused on the map, remaining silent. Her eyes moved down, then forward once more. "Then do us proud."

"Us?" My eyes slid over to her.

"The Marines. Manehattan." She paused. "Equestria."

I nodded after a short silence. "The offer is still open if you want to come with us."

Heart waved her hoof. "I have to worry about telling the others on base what to do. I'm afraid I can't."

"Then do us proud and keep the waters safe."

"Copy that," Heart nodded once. "You five best be on your way."

I nodded again in return. "Good luck, Heart."

"You worry about yourself, PFC," a gentle grin crossed her muzzle as she gave me a wink.

I gave a small smile back, before wiping it away and turning to Nightpath, nodding to him and back to the others behind us. It was time to go.

The five of us made our way out of the building in a rush. Once the skyline was back in sight, it was not evident all that much that the attackers were advancing aside from more towers of smoke spreading elsewhere. We reached the center of the base and stopped, and I turned to Anchorage.

"Do you have anything on you?" I asked hastily.

"Just a knife," he replied with a light pant.

"Head to the armory, grab what you need. We'll get ready out here. Hurry!"

Anchorage nodded and took off again, racing in the direction of the armory. The rest of us ran up to where we had left our bags and proceeded to unpack them. I started with slipping on body armor over my uniform and strapping the velcro to keep it on. Next, I switched out my cover for a black combat helmet with goggle attachments and clicked it on top of my head tightly. Lastly I snapped a holster and waist pack on the bottom half of my uniform, between the jacket and pant lines.

I took my unloaded desert eagle and shoved a full clip in the handle, cocking it and holstering it on my belt, as well as packing a combat knife in a separate, smaller holster. All that was left within my bag was spare ammunition, and my main rifle, the AR-15, laid carefully on the ground beside it. I picked up the rifle and hooked the strap around my neck for easier carrying.

Less than a few minutes after, Anchorage zoomed back with much in his hooves. He had also exchanged his patrol cap for a helmet and wore body armor over his chest. On his back sat a medium sized dark blue backpack, a holster on his waist that held a black combat machete an M1911 pistol, and around his neck, hanging by a strap, swung a scoped version of the M16. As he landed, he dropped four other backpacks of the same color and size.

"These will be easier than seabags. Carry your ammo in them and anything else you may pick up along the way," Anchorage said, panting half heavily while he caught his breath. Surely flying back and forth at high speeds while rushing to grab all of the gear he needed in the span of just four minutes would have been tiring. "I also grabbed some water and snacks. They are already in there."

"Thank you." I nodded once and proceeded to pack the ammunition magazines I had already in separate pockets. Finally, I put one hoof through the strap and lifted it onto my back, then the other, shifting slightly for the backpack to rest comfortably. The others followed suit and, soon, the five of us looked exactly alike, apart from our colors of course.

I let out a deep sigh and looked between them. "If there is anything else any of you would like to grab, please do it now. We may not be able to get a hold of anything useful for a while."

They stayed put. I nodded once. "Operation Liberate Manehattan is a go."

***

Outside of the base, even though the action was isolated to the island of Manehattan, the surrounding areas were eerily silent. Not a single pony trotted the streets. The lights in shops were shut off and windows were shrouded with curtains that were tied shut from the inside. Aside from the weather, a different type of chill was running up my spine. Although we could thank the lucky stars that nopony was out panicking or rioting in the streets.

I trotted rather quickly ahead of everypony else, but just by a few feet. The others kept a pace behind me without falling out of the group. The 23rd Street bridge construction site was just ahead of us to the left, near a rather large luxury shopping area that I hadn't previously been to. Much of the city remained to be fairly new to me despite being here for half of a year. Apart from the famously-known business center, there was still lots of city to explore.

I turned at the small street that led onto the north end of the bridge and weaved through construction signs that told ponies not to advance any further. Going up, the bridge seemed to be a lot more stable and constructed than Anchorage had said it to be. Pavement was, in fact, down and crossing appeared easier than predicted.

"Star, stop!"

I froze at Silver's word, eyes opening wide. I looked down slowly, seeing I had stopped just inches from the edge of the finished part of the bridge. My eyes gradually moved upwards, seeing the expansive length of the incomplete overpass that crossed much of the width of the frigid Manehattan River. Down below, small but visible pieces of ice floated rapidly out to sea with whirlpools of power churning around the concrete platform that held the giant steel pillars.

The frame of the grass-colored bridge was mostly complete, and the two steel towers on either end stood tall with giant hooks at the top to attach suspension cables. Unfortunately, none were there, and were coiled up near the bottom. What I found to be strange was, not one construction crane stood near the site. The work must have really been on hiatus for a long time. And just as Anchorage stated, the breeze was gusty and would most certainly hamper crossing. There was no other choice.

"Well, who's first?" I questioned in a flat tone, brows lowering the longer I scanned over the structure's incomplete parts.

Towards the center of the bridge was a noticeable gap where the beams had not yet been linked and riveted together, in which the wind was making either side bounce and sway gently. The thought of jumping across was nerve-wracking. Only one of us actually knew how to fly, which was the scarier part, unless Silver or Solar knew some sort of teleportation or levitation spell. That I didn't expect.

Following a lengthy silence, Nightpath stepped forth. "I'll go. There's nothing to worry about." He said out loud. The tone of his voice was enough to tell that that wasn't the case.

Slowly, Night worked his way onto the left beam. It was wide enough where he could walk normally, although stability remained necessary. The weather was not contributing to that at all. He shakily stepped forward every couple of seconds, all of us gathered at the edge and watching with pounding hearts and Night keeping an eye on every step he made carefully. One wrong move and we likely would have never seen him again.

The brown stallion reached the edge of the girder and stopped there. He took in a few heavy breaths and swallowed a lump in his throat, just before making a leap of faith. The gap was less than a few feet, though I could imagine fear had a factor in how far he could jump. He didn't make it far, but grabbed onto the pillar with all of his might.

I gasped, jaw dropping and seeing him slipping on the icy surface, Night scrambling to pull himself up. Not once did he look downwards or give up struggling. With a loud grunt, he caught further hold of the bar and was up on it, allowing each of us to breathe a huge sigh of relief. That was one across. Four to go.

Solar was reluctantly next. Being significantly smaller than Night made crossing the bar easier, and now Night was there to catch him as well. He stepped up to the edge and jumped across the gap, landing on all fours but with his hind hoof slipping. He gasped and froze in his spot, looking back and seeing some small stones beneath his hoof fall out of sight. He ran further down the bar to wait.

"Silver, you're up," I nudged him gently.

The beige unicorn trembled heavily. Not because of the cold, either, and his pupils had shrunk to the size of marbles. I sighed and lifted a hoof to his chin to make him look at me.

"There's two ponies to catch you if you fall. It will be alright."

Silver slowly nodded in response and hesitantly made his way onto the girder, taking extra precaution at every step but having a couple of close calls before reaching the divide. He stopped there and didn't make another movement.

Solar called out from the other side. "Come on, Silver, jump! We'll catch you!" Just as his horn lit up, preparing to grab him.

Suddenly, he squealed in fear and clenched his eyelids shut the moment he felt himself lift upwards. When they reopened, Silver stood to the side of Solar as the aura of magic faded off of him. The golden tan pony smiled gently at him.

"Alright, you next," I turned to Anchorage.

"No way, I've got these," he pointed back to his wings. "You go."

I sighed with minor frustration and rolled my eyes. I stepped over onto the green steel pillar and sauntered delicately over. My stomach twisted as I made my way across. I came up to the edge and looked down, then up at the others on the opposite side, waiting for me. Pushing my weight down onto all fours, I sprung forwards and flew across the gap, landing on the other side by just a few short inches and letting out a deep breath. Afterwards, Anchorage floated just barely in the air and across with ease. I glared at him as he landed.

"Showoff," I gently punched his shoulder.

"Hey, you're a pegasus, too, I don't know what you're mad about."

"Humph!" I turned my nose up and walked onto the finished concrete, everypony else by my side while we entered the city.

The worst part of getting into the city was now in the dust. All that was needed now was to find a decent spot to hold up. There wasn't much time, either.

Author's Note:

And so it begins. Part one of Manehattan Liberation.

Don't worry, there will be more action in part two. Heck, it'll be longer than this chapter, that's for sure.