Under Smoke and Rain – Part 3
Present…
Twilight watched as an area on the Mount Canterhorn suddenly exploded, awakening her from her daydreaming. She stepped away from the door, Jeanne closing it to avoid even the slightest possibility of a shot making it through. It didn’t shield her ears from the sound of explosions all around them, one or two rattling the Taranis from the side. The shaking once more caused her to fall, having to hold in the urge to swear at how often it was happening.
“What was that?!” Twilight screamed. “I thought we were in the clear.”
“One of the Storm King’s airships has moved to intercept us,” Jeanne told her, sounding just as shocked as Twilight was about the sudden bombardment. “They were so far out of range I didn’t think they were a threat. How did they manage to hit us?”
“Then Hax was not half the military leader that I was.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide as the voice of Tempest suddenly came through the Taranis’ intercom. Jeanne disappeared in front of the princess of friendship, reappearing a second later in the command room. Twilight joined the as soon as possible, being greeted by a transmission of the mare responsible for Canterlot’s swift defeat. The broken horn unicorn grinned mockingly at her, letting out a chuckle at her.
“The princess of friendship, abandoning her friends,” Tempest said tauntingly. An involuntary twitch in Twilight’s eye let her know she had hit a vulnerable spot in the alicorn’s psyche. “Ironic how war shows a ponies true colors. It seems your title is just for show.”
“I didn’t abandon them!” Twilight shouted back, stopping a hoof furiously on the metal ground of the Taranis. “If they hadn’t taken those petrification orbs for me, if they hadn’t helped us reach the Taranis, you would have won completely. You left me with no choice!”
“Oh you had a choice, princess,” Tempest said, unperturbed by Twilight’s defiance. “All you had to do was hand over your magic and that weapon of yours. It would have spared us all so much trouble.”
The sound of paws drew Twilight’s attention away from Tempest Shadow. Britz, Hanna, Sheena, and Chick had all returned from their guns. Tempest could help but laugh at the sight of children playing grown up. These were the children who had defeated the Tarascus and General Hax? Incompetence didn’t even begin to describe how she viewed the Berman General. No child could be smart enough to outwit a military pony like herself.
“Give me back my brother!” Chick ordered her.
“Then hoof over the Taranis and the princess,” Tempest told her, inclining her head. Her smile fell away, looking at them all with hate and malice. “This isn’t the school playground. If you want to get out of this alive or unpetrified I recommend a complete surrender.”
“We were told to do the same thing when we decided to save our families,” Socks replied. “We beat them. We can beat you too!”
“If anything, we would ask that you don’t give us reason to turn the Taranis on you,” Malt said, glaring daggers at the mare looking down on them all. “You don’t know what this thing is capable of, and I would prefer no one here in Equestria had to see it at full power.”
Despite her initial misgivings, Tempest couldn’t help but feel impressed at the resolve of those who stood before her. She had expected the princess of friendship to be the confident one, the children around her scared out of their wits on what was to come. Instead it was Twilight Sparkle who seemed unsure of all she was getting wrapped up in, the confidence she tried to exhumed barely as deep as her coat. These alien children before her were not like that, however, seeming more than ready to fight and lay down their lives as if they were grown soldiers. Perhaps they were more competent than the poultry resistance the princesses and their guard had put up.
The only way to find out was to try and break them.
“Well, I did say I like it when ponies make things difficult,” Tempest muttered, voice just loud enough where it was clear she wanted the Taranis’ crew to hear it. That malicious smile she had worn earlier returned. “To be clear, I’ve seen first hoof what your tank is capable of, and while I would love to test myself against it, the Storm King’s newest piece of property needs oversight. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure something else tests your loyalty.”
With that final slightly odd sentence, Tempest ended her transmission. It was just in time for another shot to land on the Taranis, this time coming not from an airship but from straight before them. A medium and light tank stood just within firing distance, Jeanne barely putting the shield up in time to keep the latter’s next shot from hitting them. Malt turned to Hanna and Socks, both nodding and rushing back to their stations. Twilight nearly rushed off to join them, but the Taranis AI’s voice intercepted her.
“The Taranis’ cannon wouldn’t be as effective against these foes, Princess Twilight,” Jeanne explained, her words more than enough to keep. With the alicorn halted, Jeanne turned to one of the children still present. “I think we could use some of your magic, Sheena.”
The felinko gave a nod and ran off, Twilight getting out of the way so she didn’t block their route out of the control room. The princess of friendship trotted up to Malt, Hanna, and Britz, Chick still starring in anger at where Tempest had once been. She watched as a shot bounced off the Taranis’ shields, followed by the suddenly tingling of magic being drawn upon. Her head snapped to the right, the follow of an odd yet familiar magic pool outside of her field of few.
Twilight had spent more than enough time with Sheena since the magic-wielding felinko arrived to recognize her signature, which meant she knew who the cause of that pooled magic was. She was a powerful mage, even if her self-confidence was still somewhat of a work in progress. It made the sudden beam of energy that ignited from her machine gun both terrifying and incredible. The damage it did to the light tank was immense, tearing away what armor it had and given that very same armor to the Taranis. It repaired and replaced what was damaged, making it seem good as new while that which it had previously belong to became scrap metal.
Thus was the power Sheena had, and of the personally coined “Syphon Beam” that had aggravated more than a couple enemies.
Before Twilight could put her astonishment into words, Socks and the medium tank fired at the exact same time. Hanna meant to fire immediately after, but the enemy tank’s shot hit her own grenade launcher. It left the gun too damaged to fire, Jeanne immediately starting the Taranis’ repair protocol to make sure it would remain that way for long. While that happened, Sock’s own grenade connected with the tank responsible for said damage. While it did not destroy, Malt, Britz, and Twilight could all notice how the medium tank seized up in a show of sparks.
All it took was some machine gun fire from Sheena for both tanks to be destroyed. If only that was the end, but Tempest wasn’t gonna let them escape without a wave of bodies both metal and flesh behind them. Two more medium tanks and an air unit came into view, having been not too far behind. Shots immediately were traded between them in the Taranis, Hanna’s now repaired grenade launcher nailing one of the medium tanks dead center.
In retaliation for their fallen comrades, both ground units let loose hell. Three shots from each came crashing down on the Taranis, all but two managing to make it through the behemoth’s shields. Twilight was happy to find that she had found the proper way to brace herself that time, staying in her hooves instead of face planting on the metallic floor. To make it just a bit harder for them to do the same thing twice, Socks’ next grenade hit the ground right around both medium tanks, a wall of smoke surrounding them.
Combined fire power from Sheena and Hanna was enough to take out the air unit before it could fire off a single shot. The medium tanks proved to be no threat at all, their gunners unable to find the Taranis in the smog until it was right on top of them. Like an unnoticed ant, the Taranis barged through the wall of metal weaponry, the crews of both enemy tanks unable to escape before they were crushed by its treds. Their screams went unheard, and the pain only lasted for a few seconds before they were turned to red paste inside their steel graves.
“All immediate threats are eliminated. Most of the other units in the area are either in Canterlot or far out of range,” Jeanne explained, her holographic form looking in the direction of the Storm King’s airships. “That felt too simple. Tempest must be up to something.”
“We got a minute, though, right?” Malt asked. Jeanne turned back to the caninu and gave a nod. “Then we should take stock of what we have. We did have a chance when first heading out.”
Another nod, and everyone but Chick and Twilight dispersed throughout the Taranis. While the alicorn would love to explore the Taranis’ every nook and cranny, it was not the most important thing at that moment. Instead, Twilight made her way to Chick, lifting the hat with her magic so it wasn’t covering the young caninu’s face. A face that was covered in tear trails, the young child attached to it doing their hardest to not break down.
“Chick, are you okay?” Twilight asked, though she obviously knew what the answer was.
“I’m fine. I have to be fine,” Chick blubbered out, pulling her hat back down. Twilight raised again right after, and the young girl did nothing to stop her. “If I’m not fine, then I’ll slow everyone down. I have to be strong so I can save my brother.”
Twilight used a hoof to wipe some of the tears off Chick’s face, smiling despite her inner pain. Before her was yet another reminder that these weren’t trained soldiers helping her, and that they were reeling from everything as badly, possibly worse, than herself. They were all doing their best to act brave for her sake, and for the sake of many others. As soon as they were truly out of danger, Twilight was certain every one of them would cry. In that, the alicorn was no different.
“You're already plenty strong, Chick,” Twilight reminded the caninu. “Crying won’t change that. So if you need to cry for a bit, that is completely okay.”
That was all Chick needed, hugging the pony before her as tightly as possible. Twilight sat down and wrapped a hoof around them in turn, allowing the child to use her coat as a towel. As she did, Twilight felt tears that had started to fall earlier return worse than before, and she found herself joining Chick in letting her turmoil out. Neither were sure how long they sat there, letting emotion run wild, but when it was all done Twilight needed to wipe the water out of her eyes in order to see.
“We’ll save him. We’ll save everyone,” Twilight told her.
With a determined look and calmed heart, Chick gave a nod. “Yeah. We’ll show the Storm King not to mess with us!”
Twilight barely managed to hold in a chuckle, watching as Chick went off to check on the Taranis. Jeanne walked up to her, unsure whether to smile at what Twilight had done or frown because of the knowledge she was half responsible. That line of thought was cast aside as she remembered all her talks with Princess Luna, the alicorn of the moon aiding her in her regrets up until then. The idea that an AI needed to learn how to deal with guilt was perhaps odd, but she was in many ways human. Smarter and more calculating than a normal human, but still more than a series of ones and zeroes.
Emotions were quite the tricky thing, and something even her darker side had trouble understanding. That first night with the children – the first time they had fought General Pretzel to be specific – was one such instance of that.
“I have to wonder how you always seem to do it,” Jeanne commented, gaining Twilight’s attention. “You or one of your friends seem to always know the right thing to say. You can do something that I doubt I’ll ever be able to.”
“It isn’t that special,” Twilight told her, voice quiet. The mention of the other former element bearers hurt the alicorn’s heart, even if Jeanne didn’t fully understand it all. “Besides, we mess up too. We’ve all said things we regret, especially myself. I didn’t think friends were that important a few years ago, now I can barely imagine life without them.” Her ears folded against her head as if hung. “Which is why we have to succeed at finding a way to stop the Storm King. I can’t do this alone, and neither can these kids.”
Ten minutes passed as everyone aboard the Taranis checked every corner they could, hoping to find they hadn’t completely emptied it. With them moving out of it for more comfortable and less foreboding abodes, they had taken everything of value out. That ranged from blankets to food to clothing and anything else that wasn’t bolted to the ground. With twelve paws and the help of a few ponies, they had believed nearly everything of value was removed.
Everything except for the fishing rod that Twilight found herself inspecting. It seemed completely ordinary, and that was what had made it intriguing. Kyle had told her how he devised a way to obtain scrap for repairing, upgrading, and trading with townsfolk during the war. She had expected it to be made of something incredibly durable, but it was standard as standard could be. For a fish it would hold up just fine, but nothing showed it would stand up to the abuse of dragging up large metal pipes and boards.
“I just don’t get it,” Twilight mumbled, turning the fishing pool this way and that in a desperate attempt to see what she was missing. “Even if the line held, the neck would snap from abuse. How is it not broken?”
“I have… no idea,” Socks said, rubbing the back of his head as he stood next to Twilight. Neither paid attention to the environment around them, finding the fishing rod a more intriguing and pleasant sight than that of the city they were leaving behind. “It held up fine that whole time though. Don’t think it’s gonna be that useful here, however.”
Twilight sighed, placing the fishing rod down as she headed inside from the small outlook on the back of the Taranis. With a casual stroll past maintenance, Twilight joined Hanna and the rest in the kitchen. She sat down, sighing and doing everything she could to not have a panic attack in front of six children who were around her. Jeanne did not join them, allowing the group their solace and quiet that they needed to reflect on everything that had just transpired.
“So, how bad is it?” Twilight asked, looking between Malt and Hanna.
“We got no food in the kitchen, or at least anything I would consider edible,” Hanna answered. “What we left is no longer good, and we had gotten rid of any of the MREs from back in Gasco a long time ago. We really thought we wouldn’t be in a situation like this again.”
“All our stuff for crops is gone, so we can’t even make a garden like we did back then either,” Malt explained, eyes stuck on the floor. He banged one of his hands against the kitchen walls, wincing in regret as his nerves flared in pain. “Then there is the matter of ammo.”
“Equestria put all the technological advancements achieved in the last six months into everything except military,” Britz continued on, sitting down with his back leaning against the island countertop. “We’re working with what we still have after defeating the Vanargand in Paresia, and that isn’t gonna last us long if Tempest tracks us down. Any replacement ammo is gonna come from scavenging tanks that attack us, seeing as any still standing garrisons are more likely to have spears and shields.”
Twilight sighed, knowing that she was part of the latter problem given her status as a princess of Equestria. In a land of friendship, forgiveness, and seemingly endless second chances Celestia and Luna didn’t see the need to invest in military advances. Them being the alicorns of the sun and moon were typically enough to ward off invaders, and that was before the elements of harmony came into the equation. Add to it Celestia’s impressive history of diplomatic negotiations and funding weapons research hadn’t seemed like it was all that important.
Now that line of thought felt as idiotic as breaking a pinkie promise.
“So we’re on the run with no food, low ammo, and an entire army tailing us,” Twilight summarized. “At least tell me we have beds.”
The silence was already enough to give her an answer, but Chick vocalized it anyway. “We, uh, might have taken those out as well.”
The urge to smack her head heard with her hoof was immeasurable, but the anger that was building up inside her was not appropriate for children to hear. Getting up and making her way to the kitchen elevator, Twilight left the Gasco children in silence. Even with her gone no one dared to speak for a time, the uncertainty of what to do weighing heavily on each of their minds. They knew what they wanted, but saving their friends couldn't take center stage when surviving took all their attention.
“Do you think Ponyville is okay?” Sheena asked, clutching her doll tighter than usual.
“Who knows. Given how close it is to Canterlot I doubt Tempest would have just left it alone,” Britz replied, shrugging.
“But Ponyville isn’t anywhere near as big, and almost everyone was in Canterlot from the festival,” Socks said, doing everything he could to not sit down and curl up into a ball. He had fought against several Berman generals and won, he wouldn’t let despair claim him now. “Perhaps it is undermanned. We could take it back for a bit, save those in town, and perhaps gather things from the castle or Sweet Apple Acres.”
“But we might not have the ammo to do even th–”
Suddenly, the Taranis’ alarm went off, all eyes looking upwards. Those who had been sitting down got to their paws as quickly as possible, and one floor below Twilight found herself scared half to death by the sudden loud blaring in her ears. She had started to allow her panic and anxiety to let free, and hearing that alarm go off did nothing but make it worse. She pleaded silently that it didn’t mean what she thought it meant, and that she would be spared for just a little bit longer from having to fight again.
Of course, she knew that plea would be denied.
“An air unit is closing in fast. Detecting high levels of magic around it.”
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11589969
I believe chapter 6. Whichever one Wappa joins in.
Curse Fuga 2 for actually making me like her as a character.
11589974
What is with this fan obsession of hating over Wappa?
Because this ain't the first time I seen this before.
How the heck does Tempest know about him? Is it because of a certain new AI from Fuga 2, inside the Tarascus?
Geez, Tempest has become a even bigger bitch, and a heartless jerk. Than she ever was in the movie itself!?
And she is also totally stupid for underestimating the full power of the Taranis.
I bet she will literally shit herself if she is on the receiving end of the SOUL CANNON on her arrogant dumbass!
Hopefully, we will find a spare dummy to use it on her, or the Storm King. Because, I don't want any of the kids, nor Twilight, or one of her friends ( When they do get rescued. ) to sacrifice themselves to fire it.
And IF Tempest still gets her half-assed "redemption" like in canon.
I hope the kids and Jeanne don't easily "forgive" her like Twilight did. After all the bad shit she did to them.
Heck, I even want some of them ( Like Malt for example. ) to frickin punch her in the face and managed breaking her snout, after all of this.
See Twilight, this is obviously one of the negative consequences of being a damn pacifist. Now you feel like a dumbass now, given the situation you are in.