The Last Cutie Mark Crusader

by Jatheus

31 - Raid, Part 3 of 7

The confusion of sleep took a few moments to clear when Scootaloo opened her eyes. A magical red light filled the small bunk room in which she had been resting. It was time. Moving as swiftly as possible, she donned her armor. She had slept in her combat harness to save time. Inside of a minute she was geared, head to hoof. Lastly, she locked the crossbow in place but left it folded for the moment.

Leaving the chamber, she discovered that every interior space of the cloud was lit with the same dim red light. It must have still been night. She silently walked the corridors until she found the conference room, which was empty. She continued on to the command center. The Taskforce was there, joined by General Brax, some of his officers, and Major Skyflame, Rainbow Dash's second in command and CO of the cloud. They all had the look of weariness from the journey, but spirits seemed high. Sparklefly was rubbing at her eyepatch, but stopped when she noticed Scootaloo’s arrival.

"Good morning," Rainbow Dash began. "As you all know, we are going to engage the enemy shortly. What we haven't made public until now is our exact objective.”

Brax and the others regarded her, looking less of a rainbow as they were all bathed in the red light. Scootaloo heard thunder rumble somewhere in the distance outside.

"We have reason to believe that Queen Chrysalis may be using Dodge Junction for a hideout, at least temporarily. We have drawn up a plan," Rainbow Dash said pointing at the map. “Charging Lance.”

The older stallion began to speak, weariness in his voice, "We don't know the strength of the enemy, and there is a swamp to the east, which will be on our left flank. We'll hit them directly from the northwest of the city with two regiments. If they encounter strong resistance, which we expect they will, they will fall back into the middle of the second division while they come around both sides. If we succeed, we'll draw them into the middle of our force and crush them outside the city. At the same time, the other three regiments from the first division will hit the city from the south. Our cloud firepower and remaining regiment will be directed wherever needed once the battle begins."

"We cannot afford to let the queen escape," Rainbow Dash said gravely. "General Brax, I want you leading the frontal assault. Charging Lance and Pacer will lead the vanguard feint. Scootaloo, I want you to lead our outflanking maneuver with Masher and Flittergear accompanying you.”

Scootaloo felt a swell of pride filling her chest. She may have been more proud at that moment than she had ever been in her life. Rainbow Dash was trusting her with the most important, and possibly the most dangerous part of the plan. While the action at the north was going on, the flanking force would have little support and high chance of catching a fleeing queen off guard.

"Sparklefly, you'll remain here with me. You'll be commanding any detachment from the cloud that will act as we see fit." Rainbow Dash paused a moment, looking around the room. Scootaloo knew her well enough to read that she was making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. "Upon sighting the queen, fire a green flare immediately. Use them to signal which direction she goes if she flees. Any questions?"

The room was silent. There was an apprehension or excitement that charged the air. Scootaloo felt invigorated by it.

"It'll be dawn in an hour, we need to hit them while we still have the darkness to make certain we take them by surprise," Rainbow Dash concluded. "General Brax, it's up to you and Charging Lance now. The rest of us will move as soon as you engage. Dismissed."

The room cleared as everypony went to their duties. Scootaloo was following Brax and the others when she felt Rainbow Dash looking at her. She stopped and turned around to face her mentor. There was a concern in her eyes that Scootaloo hadn't seen in several years.

"Don't worry, ma'am," Scootaloo said with confidence, "I've got this."

A wry grin fluttered across the colonel's face and vanished, "I know you do. You're one of the most awesome ponies I know."

Scootaloo could tell that she wanted to say more, but the reputation she'd built for herself wouldn't allow that sort of sentimentality, especially in the presence of subordinates, though they were seeing to their cloud-minding duties, effectively ignoring the pair.

"See you soon," Scootaloo said, giving her a way out.

Rainbow Dash nodded and turned away without another word.

Scootaloo caught up with the others at the tail of the cloud. In close formation to the rear were two divisions of EUP soldiers armed for combat. Five-thousand pegasi carried another five-thousand, a mix of earth ponies and unicorns. While it was a significant force, Scootaloo was quite aware that there would be no reinforcements. The logistical necessity for alacrity and fear of having the operation discovered was almost as much an enemy as were the timberwolves and changelings.

"There's a swamp down there," Flittergear whispered.

Scootaloo looked but couldn't see it in the darkness of the night. Another rumble of thunder sounded faintly in the distance, but Scootaloo couldn't see from where it was coming.

Flittergear continued, "That's where I'd put an ambush."

That statement amused Scootaloo more than it frightened her. Flittergear was always looking at places and pointing out how it would be a good spot to make a trap or an ambush. That kind of thinking had already come in rather useful several times, but more often Flittergear’s conclusion turned out to not be shared by the enemy. Scootaloo wondered for a moment whether her old squad was in one of the divisions behind them, but her focus was drawn back to the moment as the bulk of the force began descending.

Masher returned and said, "Captain, three regiments await your command."

Scootaloo turned and looked over her force. It was not the largest one in play, but it was by far the largest one she had ever led. In the darkness, she could feel all of their eyes on her. Scootaloo locked her harness to Flittergear and checked the connection. A swift tilt of her head, and three-thousand ponies followed her as she leapt from the cloud. She spread her wings and turned to the west, glancing back once to make sure they were still with her.

The air was tepid and humid, causing a general feeling of stickiness. Only darkness lay ahead, but the stars made navigation simple enough. It was fortunate that the moon had already set. After a short time she banked left, turning to the south. Her three regiments followed behind her with the precision of a single will. Without warning, bright lights began flickering from town in rapid succession. She glanced over, but it was too far away to see clearly.

"Magical fire," Flittergear said, only just loud enough to be heard.

A few moments later the noise from the magical explosions signaled that the battle had indeed begun. Scootaloo increased her pace to ensure that they arrived at the flanking position on time. If this battle went badly, she was determined that it wasn't going to be because her force didn't do their part.

Comments

[Blaster M]

Battle music starts up

[Jatheus]

8418236
Cry havoc! Let slip the dogs of war!

In all honesty, I have an "epic" music playlist that I use when it's time to write battle sequences... I had to use it for the rest of this chapter.

[Emperor]

Scoots is all grown up now. Gone from being a private up to leading three thousand ponies into a battle now. Pretty soon, she'll be a war hero. Of course, she'll probably be blasted through hell and back by the tragedies of war by then.

[Jatheus]

8782098
Of that, there is no doubt...

[TheLocalCannon]

He pulled his gun at me, he aimed, and fired, then I flashed my life, then realizing he never fired, one of my comrades shot him, as I proceeded up, twelve Japanese soldiers sprung up

[Jatheus]

8815940
I don't know that reference! What's it from?