Magic Vs. Machinery

by Exotic Butter

XII.~Damaged Appleloosa

It was a young morning on the third day of invasion. Just an hour after midnight. Many of the wonderbolts had their heads up and were in good moods. How will it be today? Will the ponies finally be one step ahead, or will their progress be ruined by the invaders? Only time will tell...

“Appleloosa in two minutes! Start packing your bags!” Soarin’ said, through the train wagon.

The ‘FriendShip train’. The only transport that supplies south Equestria from the north. Surprisingly, it didn't meet the machines even once. The first two wagons were for passengers, three for the army and other main things, and the last five for supplies.

Rainbow Dash and her 1./ Slowing Fireteam (Her, Surprise, High Winds and Silver Zoom.), were in the third car of the train, along with the whole Wonderbolt division.

“How…?” Ice blue stallion pegasus asked. He had gray eyes and short gray-white mane and tale, that looked like cotton-candy.

“What do you mean, Zoom?” Rainbow Dash looked at him, with an eyebrow raised.

“How do we slow down a massive machine that has a shield?”

“Simple,” Surprise took the word.
“We’ll try to bomb their path, so we increase the chance of making them stumble over.”

“And if they are smart?” White pegasus mare, known as High Wind, with emerald green eyes and long indigo blue-blue gray mane and tail, entered the conversation.

“Then we will distract them for long enough, until they give up and attack Applelossa instead.” Rainbow answered.

“Eh, fair enough.” Zoom shrugged and took the bag from under the seat he was sitting on.

“Have Soarin' given ya any first information of our first deployment? I mean, I am ready to fly right into action after we leave the train." Zoom says.

“I like optimism, but trust me; you'll lose it right away. And for that question: No, he hasn’t said anything yet.” Dash says, little…sad?

“Why this mood, Dash?” Winds asked.

“Because… Because nothing.” She answered.

“Is it…because of your best friends?” Surprise asked.

“Huh? How did you know?”

“Well…we know you have friends. And…I guess you are scared what would happen to them, right?”

“Yea… Since the information that we are no longer an acrobatic team and we’re going to leave Ponyville, one thing got stuck in my head; How’s my friends going? Are…they still hiding? Are they somewhere together, in a safe place?”

“Yea…i know that feeling.” Winds said.

“How so? I mean, if you are o.k. to tell us.” Dash raised an eyebrow.

“You know…when I heard that Ponyville was attacked, I was worried, because my cousin lives right on the edge of Ponyville. And when the newspapers arrived at the base, I noticed a photo of how a piece of that West Ponyville was gone.

Since then, I hope he's hiding somewhere safe, waiting to hear from Canterlot next order. Should they wait there? Should they change position? And things like that.” She explained.

“Well, I have good news for you.” Rainbow said. High Winds and the others looked at her.
“Yesterday, Canterlot did indeed order the residents of the Ponyville region AND all of Equestria to immediately leave their homes and go to Canterlot."

“Oh Thanks Celestia…”

After this information, the train slowed down until it fully stopped.

“ALL of Equestria? Ya think it's safe if the…Tripods are moving around Equestria?” Zoom said, as he slowly standed up.

“It’s safe, until one of the machines won’t spot them. However, if they are spotted, we ponies have one advantage in this situation: We are small.” Dash answered, standing up too.

After they left the train, the whole squad was standing on the train station with bags on their backs.

They were shocked, what they saw…

Even when the town had 'western mood', it looked like a tornado had swept through it. At least three houses had the remains of another house's roof or walls on it. The ground in some areas was completely burned or hollowed out. In the place where the sheriff's house used to be, there was one large crater from which a small, faint smoke was still coming. The residents of Appleloosa were hiding anywhere, if it had a roof or something.

“Like rabbits…” Dash said to herself.

“Welcome to the Appleloosa.” Soarin’ said, as he was the last pony, who left the train.
“Well, when I have you all here, I have a first job for you. You ponies have medium-light bags, right?” Soarin’ opened his bag and took out a file folder of papers.

"Are we going to explore the area?" Zoom asked.

"Exactly. From the information I've gathered, the best location for patrolling and your base camp would be southwest of the Appleloosa region." He explained as he took one file with his wing and winged it to Rainbow Dash.

“Hmm… I see we have an advantage. We are already on our way, Soarin’.”

“Great! I hope we will see each other again, after all of this.” Captain of the Wonderbolts smiled, as he took his bag on his back, and trotted to the rest of the ‘Wonder’ division.

“Here you have it, Zoom. First day, first deployment. Still optimistic?” Surprise said sarcastically .

“Yep.”

"Okay, enough of that. Let's go get our bombs and fly to the scout spot." Rainbow said as she looked at the map.

After they took everything they needed, the squad was fully loaded with supplies and bombs. Now they were standing again at the train station, getting ready to take off, side by side.

“Supplies?” Rainbow asked.

“Confirmed!” Surprise answered.

“Camera?”

“Uh…yes, but why camera again?” Zoom asked.

“Evidence. Everypony have a bomb?”

“Yes!”

“Well then, get into the sky!” Everypony puts their glasses on their faces and spreads their wings. Seconds after, one by one, the 1./ Slowing Fireteam was in the air, heading southwest.

---

After hours of flying, the squad arrived at the survey site. They used flashlights to slowly land on a…hill.

“A hill?” Winds asked, a little surprised.

"Yes? That's the only advantage we have! Anyway, let's set up base camp. None of us want to sleep on rock and sand, do we?" Rainbow said, putting her bag in front of her. She opened it and took the flag of Equestria.

She stuck it between two rocks and let the wind do the rest.

While that, each one pegasus started building a military tent. Nothing special, just small tents for one pony each. Simple enough.

Rainbow looked at her team and thought for a moment.

"Go to sleep. We flew a lot today." She said.¨

"Best order of the day." Surprise chucked a little.