History Reimagined

by Pun System

Ch. 13: Opening Moves

Centipede stared through his small viewport at the city ahead. The street ended in a sturdy-looking barricade, which the crystal ponies were using for cover. “Distance to target?” called Bombardier.

“One fifty,” called Hot Shot, his upper barrel sticking out of the command hatch.

Centipede heard Bombardier’s horn charge, then watched as a bolt of green magic struck the barricade, stirring up a considerable smoke cloud. When the smoke settled, the barricade was still mostly intact, but the crystal ponies stationed on top of it were charred and unmoving. A few small fires had begun on the barricade itself.

“Didn’t stand a chance,” said Bombardier. “Give me another.”

“Swivel lens ten degrees left,” called Hot Shot. “Drivers, keep us steady.”

“Yes sir,” Millipede answered. “Our tracking is still dead ahead.”

“Key word ‘dead,’” said Bombardier. Centipede heard him began turning a crankshaft. “Ready,” he called a second later.

“Fire,” Hot Shot ordered.

Bombardier lit his horn and fired, and Centipede watched as the left side of the barricade was engulfed in flames.

“Ha ha! This is never going to get old!” Bombardier said.

A flugelhorn sounded in front of them. “Here’s the part where they start fighting back,” Carapace mused.

“Just raise the shield so I can keep shooting,” said Bombardier.

Centipede watched as the shield went up, and his entire field of vision turned green. A moment later, several dozen arrows arced over the barricade and bounced off the front of the shield.

“Is that all they’ve got?” asked Bombardier.

“This is just the first line of defense,” Hot Shot said. “There’ll be more once we get closer.” The vehicle was nearly at the foot of the barricade now. “Drivers, more power. We’re going up and over.”

“Yes, sir,” called Centipede and Millipede. Centipede fed more of his own magic into the machine, trying not to go faster or slower than Millipede input as the vehicle surged forward. Soon, the vehicle hit something solid and the floor began to slant. Centipede felt the pads on the frogs of his hooves stick to the floor, securing him in place. Ahead of him, Bombardier mumbled something about the angle of the barricade, then began angling the lens upward.

Centipede knew without even looking out his viewport when they had reached the top. The whole vehicle lurched and leaned forward, and would have sent him flying to the front if he hadn’t been stuck to the floor. He looked up and over his shoulder at Hot Shot to see him bracing himself against the front of the command hatch. He watched him glance down at his rear hooves as he stood there and shifted his weight between them, as if distrusting his hooves to hold him at this angle. This must still be new to him. I keep forgetting he used to be a pon—

Bombardier lit his horn and fired. Centipede spun around to look out his viewport. He missed the impact, but still got to see the significant hole he had punched in the ranks of crystal archers. “Heh heh. Love the shockwave and dust cloud around us when my magic goes out the lens,” Bombardier said.

“Bombardier, fire at will on their retreat.”

“With pleasure.”

Centipede looked for the dust near them to be kicked up when Bombardier fired again at the bottom of the barricade, and sure enough, there it was. He looked back up at the ranks of crystal archers. Some of them were backpedalling, others turning to flee outright. They’ve never fought anything like this before. We’re making history, he thought. And here I am in the middle of it all. For the first time since the onset of the mission, Centipede felt a deep sense of pride in what he was doing. “Orders, Commander?”

“Let them run. We’ll be right behind them. Ahead full!”

“Yes sir!” he eagerly replied.

---

“And if you do exactly what we did at the start of the Battle of Fillydelphia, we should be in a position to repel this attack,” said King Sombra from across the strategic map.

Imperial Topaz nodded. She knew how close victory had been at Fillydelphia a few months before. And this time, they knew their enemy’s plans. The chariot figurines on the board before her stood in for the new weapons Chrysalis was fielding against them. The green pony-shaped figurines behind them symbolized the long column of infantry behind. A dotted line of red figurines traced a path in strategic positions around the city, though most were concentrated in the north where their command post was.

“I disagree,” Trixie said. “We need to cut off their front lines from their supplies. If our intel is correct, those new vehicles are going to be tough to crack.”

“We need to trap them first,” said Sombra as he turned his head slowly towards Trixie. “You still have much to learn about waging war.”

Trixie put a front hoof on the table. “But I nearly got us the victory at Fillydelphia with that exact tactic!”

Sombra growled and furled his cape, spreading a pair of massive black wings in the process. “You will be silent!” Trixie backed down off the table as Topaz took a step back.

Where was I when the King grew a pair of alicorn wings!

“Once they hit a line they can’t break through, the infantry behind will spread out and form a line. Then we will spring the trap. You would spring it too early.” Trixie dropped her head dejectedly.

“Topaz,” Sombra said, his tone softer now. “I’m counting on you to win this battle. Should Chrysalis appear, I will go out to fight her. That would leave you in charge.”

Trixie whirled to face Sombra, betrayal and disbelief on her face.

“I will not fail you, my lord,” she said. Not again.

“Good. Trixie, you are to lead the eastern flank. If Chrysalis does not appear, then I shall lead the western flank. On my signal, we spring the trap.”

The door to the room burst open, and a crystal pony panting for breath stood over the threshold. “Sire! The changelings—have made contact—with our front line!”

“Governor Topaz, order our commandos to slow down their advance while we get into position,” Sombra said.

“It will be done, my lord.”

“I am leaving the command post under your control, Topaz. Hold the line until we return.”

“Yes, my lord. Long live the King.”

Sombra nodded towards Trixie, and they went their separate ways.

Topaz turned to the messenger in the door. “You heard the King. Alert the commandos. They are to intercept and slow the advance.”

“Yes, ma’am!” the pony said. He saluted and then galloped out the way he had come.

---

Bombardier lit his horn and fired again, and an orb of green magic streaked down the street at the crystal ponies’ shield wall. When it hit their ranks, several ponies dropped the shields they were holding, most of the ponies that held them falling too. Crossbow bolts and arrows ricocheted off the shield, though Carapace was beginning to show signs of strain. Suddenly, explosions were heard from the alleyway beside them, and Centipede heard a noise like pieces of metal impacting the left side of the vehicle.

Hot Shot cried sharply and ducked down into the vehicle, a thick green fluid oozing from wounds on his left foreleg and his head. A second later, he lit his horn and magically closed the command hatch above him.

“Sir, are you alright?” asked Carapace.

“I’m hit. Some kind of shrapnel, I think,” he said, as he reached with his other hoof for the crew’s medkit.

“I don’t understand,” said Bombardier. “The shield’s still up.”

“I—felt something,” Carapace said as he approached the Captain. “Something passed through the shield. It felt as if somepony threw a hooffull of rocks at us, but faster than any throw I’ve seen.”

“They were on the left, yeah?” asked Bombardier.

“Yes,” said Carapace. Bombardier began turning the lens to face that side.

“I’ve got a visual in my viewport, but the lens won’t swivel that far left.” A second sound rang out as he was turning the lens, but this time Centipede felt no impact. “What the—? What kinda weapon is that?” asked Bombardier. “Just fired at the guy behind us,” he said, gesturing in the direction of the rest of the armored vehicles.

Hot Shot turned around to the two beetle-shaped objects on the wall behind him. “Hot Shot to First Armor Company, close hatches. They’ve got some kind of shield-penetrating weapon.”

Before he could finish giving the order, another round of shots rang out. “Second Armored Unit,” came the reply from a female changeling, “Our commander is hit.”

“Who’s speaking? What’s your rank?” he called back.

“Elytra, Shield Officer speaking.”

“You’re in charge until Commander Hornet recovers.”

“Understood, sir.”

Hot Shot took a step back. “Carapace, how are the shields?”

“Holding, sir.”

“Think you can push on to the city center? It’s a long way.”

“I think so, sir.”

“I need you to be sure. If you feel we won’t be safe in front, I need you to say so.”

Carapace hesitated. “I—am not sure, sir.”

Centipede stared ahead into the enemy lines. They had been making such good progress. He felt like he could keep going for hours at this pace. He found, somewhat to his surprise, that he wasn’t ready to give up the push just yet.

Centipede heard Hot Shot’s hooves on the deck above, stepping back into sight towards the changeling communicator. “Unit One to Unit Three, our shields have taking a beating. Can you take the lead?”

“I’m hit but it’s nothing too bad,” the commander called back. “I’ll take lead.”

“Awww. I was just getting warmed up,” said Bombardier.

“Don’t worry,” said Hot Shot. “There’ll be plenty more ahead. This battle’s far from over.”

---

“Mission objectives are as follows,” Rainbow continued. “Defeat the Green Changeling army, capture Chrysalis and her foal if possible, defeat the Crystal Empire garrison. With Chrysalis in our control, we’ll have the leverage we need to swing the remaining Green Changelings to our side. Then we can focus our efforts in the war against Sombra. If the opportunity does not present itself, we attack both factions and take the city while they fight each other.”

Time Skipper glanced around the aft hanger of the W.A.S. Spitfire. Behind them was an airship about the same size full of about as many soldiers. On the main deck of each ship were even more soldiers. We have to take on a city garrison and an attacking army with this force? That’s thinking a bit optimistic.

“When we arrive, we’ll deploy if the tactical opportunity is immediately available. Then, we’ll land our troops and begin our assault. Under no circumstances should you be in the cloudtops of the city. Our targets are the Crystal Empire holdings and the Green Changeling army on the ground fighting for control of the undercity. The resorts in the clouds are a strict non-combat zone. We need that infrastructure intact. My agents on the ground have not yet spotted Chrysalis. She and Princess Pupa are believed to be aboard the airship behind her lines.”

“Wonderbolts, that’s where we come in,” said Spitfire. “Once she’s been spotted, we’ll be dispatched to intercept. It will be our top priority to separate the Queen from her daughter. Sweetie Drops will have a group of her best changelings on the ground to assist.”

“Bon Bon wanted me to remind you all, Chrysalis is a mother,” Rainbow said. “Separating them won’t be easy; keeping them separate will be even harder. Equestria and the Blue Changelings are counting on you. This is your home. This is both of our war.”

“Let’s take back what’s ours!” said Spitfire.

The hanger erupted into shouts as the Wonderbolts cheered and raised their clenched hooves. Time couldn’t help but smile. Wow. I helped build this. It's finally coming together. They're really doing it! Her heart swelled with pride as she looked over the soldiers there. Once more, Wonderbolts stood side by side with their brothers and sisters in arms. Her part may have been small, but thanks to her, these ponies were finally shaping up into a unified force. Time just hoped they could make up for in spirit and in unity what they lacked in numbers.

When she turned her head, she saw Rainbow Dash walking down one of the aisles towards her. “Time Skipper,” she called. “I was told to give you this,” she said. In her hoof was what an odd-looking hat with a ring held to it by a string.

“What’s that?”

“Alchemic comm. You remember the alchemic horn for the earth ponies and pegasi? Well this is kinda like that, but for unicorns.” She levitated it towards Time’s head. “The earpiece goes here. And the mic is in the chin strap.” Time moved her head helpfully as Rainbow fitted the hat on her head. “And the ring goes on your horn.”

“Wait!” Starlight ducked out of the way and backed up. “I can’t use my magic if I have that on!”

Rainbow squinted and took a step closer. “What do you mean?”

“When I first arrived here, they locked me up because they thought I was one of Chrysalis’s changelings. And they put a ring on my horn so I couldn’t use magic.”

Rainbow lowered her head and laughed nervously. “Yeah… sorry about that. That one was iron. This one is lead. Instead of discharging magic it comes in contact with, it conducts it, feeding into the mic and headset to give it power.”

Starlight took the ring in her magic and examined it closely. “Well, ok.” She put the ring on her horn, then kept her aura up a few moments longer just to make sure she could.

“You taught me how to use this,” she said, pointing to her alchemic horn. “Now I get to teach you how to use that,” she said with a chuckle. put a hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “We’ve got this. Together,” she said with a smile.

Time Skipper mimicked Rainbow’s gesture “Together!”

---

Trixie galloped through town towards the end of the east flank. The Las Pegasus residents scurried to get out of her way as she approached. So far, she’d only had to shield bash her way through one or two crowds on the way to her destination. Always in the back of her mind was Imperial Topaz.

I hope she bucks this up good! she thought. I can’t wait to see the look on King Sombra’s face when I succeed and she fails! He’ll berate her in front of me instead of the other way around for a change!

“Out of my way!” she shouted as she galloped ahead towards a crowded market stall. She raised a shield, her aura and her half-dome shield both blackened with dark magic. Of the ten or so ponies in her way, only two hit the shield, one bouncing away and onto her knees, and the other going completely over top of her. What has that good-for-nothing sow been doing all this time if not instilling the fear of the Crystal Empire into these ponies?

Trixie took a hard right turn and was greeted by banners of the Crystal Empire on either side of the street. She levitated a flugelhorn out from under her cloak and blew into it. “Form up! Prepare to move out!” she shouted. Crystal ponies down the street dismounted the barricade, slung their weapons over their shoulders, and hustled to get into formation. “On my command, be ready to move out! We’re going to sweep in towards the changeling column and flank them!” At least once Sombra gives the signal, she thought.

She turned around and saw a black magic flare streaking high into the sky. That’s our signal! Move out!” The soldiers moved at her command as she galloped to the head of the formation. She lit her horn and fired off a burst of magic into the air. She led the troops past two more garrison points, each time gathering more troops to her as she continued marching towards the changeling ranks, until finally she caught sight of the enemy.

“Twelfth Platoon, break formation! Engage at will!”

She stepped out of the way to let the column pass her by. “Eighth Platoon, fall in! Seventh Platoon, follow me! We’ll flank them up ahead!” Trixie led the final platoon ahead along a side street towards the fighting. She charged around the corner, flugelhorn sounding off her advance as she galloped towards the changelings’ column. The troops behind her shouted as they unleashed a volley of crossbow bolts into the enemy ranks.

Trixie raised a wall of black crystals as the changelings turned and fired magic at her, then shattered the wall and sprayed it at them in chunks. A number of changelings were knocked back as she readied her horn for another spell. She reared and stomped down, sending a line of black crystals along the ground, impaling the changelings it came into contact with. As the soldiers from behind her joined the melee, Trixie looked around and saw the rear-most armored vehicle turning around, its primary weapon squared at her.

Trixie was momentarily immobilized with fear as she stared down the barrel of the weapon, but as it began to glow with green energy, she let her form dissolve into a black cloud, tanking through the magic blast as it passed harmlessly through her essence. She raced towards the vehicle, but slammed into the shield around it. What? How! Our dark crystal weapons go right through it!

She flew over the vehicle and got behind it, then solidified into a collection of crystals. She coiled herself up, then launched out, sending a single large black crystal through the shield. She dissolved into smoke again, this time passing through the hole and into the shield. She glided over the surface of the hatches, seeking a way to gain entry. At last she found her opening, not through the hatches, but through a gap in the undercarriage. She slid through and materialized on the inside, face to face with a very startled changeling.

“What the—”

“She’s through!”

A wave of heat and pain raced over her as she felt herself struck from behind. She turned her head and shot her attacker in the face with her magic, and he fell limp against the wall behind him.

The first changeling grabbed her by the head and pulled, nearly knocking her off her balance. She felt her left foreleg being levitated, and something sticky oozing onto it.

“Unit Twelve to First Division! We’ve been breached by a Shadow Creature and one of my drivers is hit!” shouted a third changeling from above, the only one wearing a cap. He lowered his head towards the opening and lit his horn.

Trixie let out a shield flare from her horn, slamming the changeling behind her into the back wall. Two changelings crawled down from below. She grabbed them in her magic and threw them into each other. She fired a beam of magic across the three changelings in front of her, but when she turned around, the last changeling was nowhere to be found. She made a frustrated sound somewhere between a sigh and a growl, then exited the way she had came.

She reformed on the ground outside the vehicle. “There she is!” shouted a changeling from behind her. A second changeling galloped into sight from around the vehicle. Trixie raised a formation of crystals out of the ground, then kicked one at each changeling. Crystal ponies from nearby rushed towards her, then stopped abruptly and pressed themselves against the vehicle.

“What are you hiding from?” she shouted. “Get out there and—” Trixie watched as another crystal pony who was trying to join up with the others was hit with a blast from the second to last armored vehicle. They’re not hiding, they’re taking cover.

Trixie nodded as her gaze dropped. Maybe I do have more to learn about fighting. She raised her head again as she looked to her soldiers again. “Start looking for a way into this thing. Maybe we can use it against them.”

---

Pharynx burst out the door and onto the main deck of Chrysalis’s airship. “Chrysalis, my Queen!” he called, cantering over towards her. “It’s King Sombra—He’s here!”

Chrysalis dropped her gaze and raised a hoof to her chin. “Yes. I wondered if he might show his face. He captured one of our agents. He knows how significant a blow it would be if we recaptured this city. It could be a turning point in his campaign against us! He knows if he stops us here, we will have us on the back leg.”

Chrysalis walked towards the edge of the ship, Princess Pupa secured on her back in a cocoon-like sac. She looked down onto the city below, its cloudtop resorts partially obscuring the commercial and residential districts below. “If I signal to you, send my personal squad to reinforce me.”

“Yes, my Queen!” Chrysalis spread her wings. “And, uh,” he said with a pause. Chrysalis turned her head to look behind her. “Be careful, your Highness. Should something happen to you…”

“It will not happen,” she replied. “I trust you to see to it.”

Chrysalis leapt and began her dive, her daughter holding onto her forelegs as she dove. Chrysalis glanced down to check up on Pupa, but instead of looking afraid, Pupa seemed thrilled. Her eyes were wide open, and her mouth flapped in the wind.

Chrysalis dove below the altitude of the upper city and began to level out, her dive speeding her onward towards her front line. She spotted a black cloud on her west flank, which was holding a tight perimeter around her armored division and its supporting hoofsoldiers. She singled out this target and sped towards it. She buzzed her own troops as she approached, enjoying the thrill of the cheering army beneath her.

At last she reached the front lines. The cloud engulfed a changeling, morphed into crystal, and pinned him up against a wall and choking him out. She lit her horn, but Sombra was faster. A crystal pierced through the changeling, and his limbs shot out in pain. Sombra dropped the changeling, and Chrysalis landed next to him. He looked up at his Queen, a sense of relief visible underneath the pain, then his head fell to the ground.

Chrysalis looked back at Pupa just in time to catch her glance down at the dead changeling and lean in towards her mother’s neck, her two tiny legs hugging her tightly. “You’re going to pay for that, Sombra,” Chrysalis growled.

“Las Pegasus is mine,” came the reply from the blackened cloud. “You should never have returned.” Sombra’s head materialized as he moved into the middle of the street.

Pupa reached down at the drone and whimpered, then glared angrily at the King, and Chrysalis felt her tapping into her mother’s love. “Must you brutalize my drones so?” she asked, reaching down with her magic to levitate the fallen changeling.

“I find my enemies fight far worse when they are stricken by fear.”

Chrysalis magically closed the drone’s eyes. It didn’t have much energy left, or much love, but Chrysalis would need every bit she could get to defeat Sombra. She brought its horn up to her own, and drained it of its remaining love.

Then, Chrysalis’s eyes shot open as she levitated the drone away and her daughter in front of her. “I hope you’re ready for a rematch!”

Sombra fully materialized now, his cape fastened just above an amulet around his neck. “I’m more ready than ever!” The sun glinted off his amulet as he let a broad smile onto his face.

Chrysalis moved first, but Sombra’s horn grew red as the ground around her trembled. Darkness briefly enveloped her, and then Sombra galloped forward. With Pupa held in front of her, Chrysalis walked confidently forward. Sombra defeated her with a single magical blow, not to her body or head, but to her legs. She fell flat on her face, and when she looked up, her daughter was in Sombra’s grasp.

“The battlefield is no place for a foal, my dear, much less, an heir!”

“No! Pupa! Not my daughter!”

Sombra threw his head back and laughed, and Pupa’s expression shifted to one of concern. She fussed and raised her hooves towards Chrysalis.

That’s when Chrysalis felt it: a surge of love reinvigorating her and spurring her to life. Starting at Pupa, a turquoise flame burned towards the edges of her vision. Only Pupa remained the same, as if the backdrop of a stage set was burning away behind her.

“Wha—What is this?” As Chrysalis reoriented herself, she found herself within her daughter’s shield, levitating her just as she had been at the start of the battle. Pupa’s concern soon changed to joy as Chrysalis brought her to her chest.

“Mind magic, Sombra?” she shouted to the black smoke that pressed at the shield around them. “Even my infant daughter’s love is strong enough to break that!” She reached her horn out to her Pupa’s to sync their magic, then flared their shield outward. The clouds reformed together and shifted form into crystal as they hit the ground. They raced towards Chrysalis, prompting her to take off into the air. She turned and shot a blast of fiery green magic at the ground where Sombra’s crystals were headed.

A formation of crystal leapt from the ground, through the air and through the flames. Though it was slowed, it still grabbed one of Chrysalis’s legs. She lit her horn when she felt herself being pulled downward, but Pupa shielded them first. The crystals within the shield fell useless against the bottom of the shield as the rest of the crystal pulled downward.

Then, the crystal within the shield began to smoke. Chrysalis’s eyes grew wide as she grasped her daughter closer to her body. Thinking quickly, she dispelled Pupa’s shield and shot a beam of magic at the cloud.

Pupa shot a blast of magic a direction she wasn’t looking, and she turned her head to see the rest of the black cloud snaking its way up towards them.

“There’s two of us and one of you!” she taunted. “Give it up!”

The reply came within seconds. “Let’s see if we can’t do something abo—” Chrysalis turned and fired, not even thinking about her aim. She would have landed a direct hit to Sombra’s body had he not raised a crystal wall at the last second. The wall shattered, and Sombra was thrown backwards. He snorted and unclasped his cape. Pupa shot magic at him, but he threw the cape in front of him. Upon impact, the cape broke apart, morphing into a group of bats which flew towards Chrysalis and Pupa, screeching as they flew.

Chrysalis’s ears rang sharply as the bats got closer. She fired a beam of magic, dragging it in a zigzag pattern across the oncoming creatures, downing most of them in one sweep. The few that remained scattered and flew off. When Chrysalis looked back to Sombra, he was gone. Pupa grunted and pointed behind them. Chrysalis turned her head to see Sombra flying.

“When did he get wings?” she said to herself. Sombra arced around them as Pupa began to fire blasts of magic at him. She missed, most of her shots falling behind him. At the height of his arc, Sombra turned and flew towards them, charging his horn as he came. Chrysalis fired a beam of magic at him, Pupa joining a second later. The distance between them closed quickly, and when Sombra got to them, their defences fell and he flew right through the spot where they had been hovering.

Chrysalis now found herself in Sombra’s grasp as he flew. She lit her horn and teleported the three of them, changing their angle after the teleport. She pulled as hard as she could, and freed her upper body from between Sombra’s front legs.

Sombra kept going and hit the ground hard. Chrysalis didn’t wait for a response, but put up a shield and flew down at full speed. But once she got close, she saw a red shield of magic around him. She crashed into his shield with hers, and they both were thrown backwards.

Chrysalis picked herself up and looked around for Sombra. “I don’t know how you can fly,” she began, but you forget I still have the stolen magic from the Royal Sisters!”

“This amulet is ancient!” Chrysalis’s ears swivelled, trying to discern Sombra’s location. “I made it so I could challenge the Royal Sisters’!” It sounded like his voice was coming from the nearby crater.

Chrysalis began walking over to investigate. Pupa clung to the back of her neck. “Their magic beat you once before; it will not fail me either!” She leapt to the crater’s edge and charged her horn, but Sombra was nowhere to be found. A moment later, she heard a teleport behind her. Sombra fired a blast of red magic onto the ground, but Chrysalis was already taking off. She mostly escaped the hit, though she lost a few inches off her tail.

She climbed into the sky and turned to face her opponent. “Well your ancient magics seem to have lost their edge. We’re too evenly matched!”

Sombra smiled as he shifted into his shadow form. “Oh, I’m just getting started.”

Chrysalis shielded herself in anticipation of Sombra’s next attack.

---

“W.A.S. Spitfire, we are in position,” Spitfire said over her alchemic horn’s mic. The orange glow in the horn’s grooves faded after she had stopped talking.

“Copy, Spitfire, W.A.S. Soarin will be in position shortly,” Soarin said into Time Skipper’s ear.

Time glanced down at the city, though her view was obscured by clouds. “Somewhere down there is our landing zone.”

The grooves of Spitfire’s alchemic horn glowed again with an orange light. “Spitfire to pegasus spotters. What’ve we got?”

“Landing zone is clear, ma’am,” replied a stallion.

“You want us to go ahead and drop?” asked Rainbow from beside her.

Spitfire hesitated a moment as she stared out the front window of the airship’s lower hull. “Yes. Begin landing the troops. Soarin’s group will be down in a few minutes.”

Rainbow turned and galloped out of the room. As Time turned to follow, Spitfire called after her. “And Rainbow, make sure they understand they have to get in and out of the landing zone quickly to make room for Soarin’s group.”

Rainbow paused at the door to hear Spitfire’s instructions. “Got it.” She magically opened the door and galloped to the ladder. Rainbow spread her wings and flew up through the hatch. Time glanced up through the hole and teleported out a moment later.

“Everypony, we’re moving out!” Rainbow said. “Get with your squad and jump! Pegasi, unicorns, hold onto each other!”

Time Skipper watched as each unicorn ran a cord through their harness and into a similar harness worn by a pegasus. Each earth pony was then levitated by a unicorn. Nine at a time, in three groups of one pony per race, each squad jumped down off the deck towards the city below.

“Come on, Time Skipper,” Rainbow called. She heard Rainbow’s wings beating the air behind her, and soon felt her grip around her lower barrel. She watched the deck as Rainbow lifted her off of it. Rainbow flew off to the side and let herself drop. Time grabbed Rainbow’s hooves with her own as they swerved in and out of cloud cover.

First, the cloudtop resorts came into view, and then the undercity below. Every once in a while, a green light would catch her eye somewhere just outside the city center.

But they weren’t headed for the city center. They landed on the eastern edge of town, where each unicorn unclipped their harness and each pegasus coiled up the rope and tied it in place at their side.

“Everypony! Prepare to move out!” Rainbow shouted. “Starting today, these ponies are gonna be free again!"

The soldiers cheered and shouted and began forming up. Time Skipper smiled along with them as she followed Rainbow towards the fight.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Quite the battle!